FRESH AIR MUSEUM – GOVERNMENT STREET

Fresh Air Museum – Government Street:

Where History Happens

Victoria’s Old Town sits on the traditional territory of the Lək̓ʷəŋən people on Songhees and Kosapsum Nation. Indigenous connection to this land long predates the stories told through our streets and buildings today. Over time, this place has evolved through many layers of history — from Indigenous land and gathering places, to a hub of settlement, trade, and architecture that continues to define the heart of our city.

Along Government Street, these layers are visible in the heritage buildings that remain cornerstones of our collective story. Many have been lovingly preserved by generations of property owners, craftspeople, and community members who understand the importance of keeping this history alive.

The Fresh Air Museum on Government Street invites you to experience these stories in the open air. As you explore, look for the blue plaques displayed on participating buildings. Each plaque connects you to the past — simply scan the QR code to uncover the history of the site, the people who shaped it, and the businesses that continue to bring it to life today.

This initiative celebrates the property owners who have invested in preserving and sharing their buildings’ histories, helping to keep our heritage visible and vibrant. We also extend our thanks to Denton Pendergast of Victoria’s Fresh Air Museum for bringing this concept forward and for his thoughtful research, writing, and design work that made it possible.

Together, we’re linking the past and present — inviting locals and visitors alike to experience Government Street’s living history, one story at a time.

The Irish Times – The Bank of Montreal Building

1200 Government Street

The elegantly appointed Irish Times, widely acknowledged as North America’s Best Irish Pub, is located in the what was the distinctive Bank of Montreal building. The 1896 work of Victoria’s greatest architect, Francis Rattenbury, it would soon be joined by other of his great works, the Empress Hotel, British Columbia’s Legislature Buildings, and the Steamship Terminal among them.

The Irish Times offers cozy nooks, fireplaces, rich dark wood panelling, finely etched Victorian glass doors and windows, glittering gold chandeliers, and a curious collection of conversation starting memorabilia.

Within this wonderful environment you’ll enjoy the best of Irish culture—great food for your body, music seven nights a week for your soul, and a fine drink for your spirit—choose your toast from over 40 taps of local craft and world breweries, dip into Canada’s largest selection of Irish whiskeys, or explore into the expansive wine list.

Whatever your choice—Sláinte!

The Quebec-based Bank of Montreal, Canada’s oldest bank, requested Rattenbury to design their original Victoria branch in the French Chateau style. The building’s significant location stands as a symbol of Government Street succeeding Wharf Street as Victoria’s primary commercial and financial artery. Following the precedent of the Belmont Building at 801 Government Street, The Irish Times building was constructed using the most advanced building technology of its day—replacing structural wood with a steel frame. Its Haddington Island stone is considered to be British Columbia’s finest building material because it is easily profiled and carved

Prior to the circa 1909 standardizing of its address system, many of the city’s buildings had held somewhat random street numbers.

The Bank of Montreal Building is registered in the Canadian Registry of Historic Places.

The Driard Hotel 1881

1151 Broad Street

Bay Centre is unique in Victoria. Its exterior a tribute to some of the city’s significant early commercial buildings. Looking up at the corner of Broad and View Streets you’ll see the Romanesque façade and distinctive tower of the third Driard Hotel. With its reputation for luxury and fine cuisine, it would remain Victoria’s most sophisticated destination until the opening of the Empress in 1908.
Following Victoria’s great fire of 1910, the hotel was repurposed as an expansion of Spencer`s Fort Street Department Store. In 1948 the building was sold to T. Eaton Company Limited who operated it until late 1987.

The original building, known as the Green Block is in the Registry of Canada’s Historic places.

The Victoria Daily Times Building

Another in Bay Centre’s façade collection is The Victoria Daily Times Building on Fort Street near the Bay Centre’s Broad Street entrance. As the city’s first liberal leaning newspaper, The Times was established in 1884 to compete with the city’s more conservative British Colonist (1858). Its success led to the commissioning of Winnipeg’s Henry Sandham Griffith to design their five-storey Edwardian Times Building. Ultimately, the newspaper merged with the British Colonist to form today’s Times Colonist—British Columbia’s oldest newspaper.
Spencer’s Department Stores took possession of the Times building In 1951, converting it into the flagship in their chain of eight locations across the province. In the age-old rivalry between the two cities, Victoria based Spenser’s competed vigorously with Vancouver’s Woodward’s chain. In 1948 T. Eaton & Co acquired Spenser’s, operating it until late 1987 when the building was demolished to make way for the landmark Eaton Centre—today’s the Bay Centre.

The Murchie’s Building – The Mahon Building 1907

1110 Government Street

As a boy working in Britain for a prestigious tea merchant, John Murchie delivered tea to Queen Victoria at Balmoral Castle. In 1894, his adventurous spirit would carry his passion for tea blending halfway around the world to far British Columbia, where he established Murchie’s Tea, now one of Canada’s oldest brands.

The first building on this site was Fort Victoria built in 1843, followed by a gold rush storefront shack in 1860. It was followed in 1890 by the Sehl Furniture factory which was eventually destroyed by fire. The current Edwardian building of brick was erected in 1907. Following a major renovation in 1987, Murchie’s Tea and Coffee took occupancy. Visitors from around the world enjoy a wide collection of teas, coffees, pastries, cakes, along with fine breakfast and luncheon menus in the charming ambience of the spacious interior under the building’s original ornate tin ceiling.

The two-storey Edwardian Classical Revival brick structure was designed by William Ridgway Wilson for Edward Mahon, a real estate agent and member of the firm Mahon, McFarland & Proctor. Like the Sehl Block, the Mahon (now Murchie’s) Building extends the full depth of the block between Government and Langley Streets. Original plans for the Mahon Block called for the Government Street frontage to be divided into two stores with offices above. On the Langley Street side, with the B.C. Provincial Court located a block northwest at 28 Bastion Square, a number of offices for lawyers was provided.

Edward Mahon, the original owner, designed for a third storey if demand warranted though that has never happened. Among Mahon’s other holdings was the Capilano Suspension Bridge, a popular tourist attraction to this day.

Prior to the circa 1909 standardizing of its address system, many of the city’s buildings had held somewhat random street numbers.

The Bard & Banker – The Bank of BC Building 1885

1022 Government Street

The Bard and Banker is dedicated to the great Robert W. Service, the Bard of the Yukon.

After leaving England Service collected stories as he wandered, often penniless, from California up to British Columbia. Arriving in Victoria in 1896, and in need both of a job and somewhere to live, he was hired by the Canadian Bank of Commerce. In addition to his job, he received free accommodation on the bank’s top floor in return for service as night watchman. In less than a year he was transferred to Kamloops, then north to Whitehorse in the Yukon. With the larger-than-life tales of the Klondike Gold Rush firing his imagination, he wrote The Shooting of Dan McGrew then The Cremation of Sam McGee (Sam’s name was borrowed from a bank ledger). That second poem soon captured the world’s attention. His Songs of a Sourdough generated enough income to allow him to quit the bank, wonder, and to write full time. Service would become one of the most published poets in the English language, writing six best-selling volumes of verse, and a two-volume autobiography before dying a millionaire in Lancieux, France where he is buried in the local cemetery.

Come in and raise a glass to the Bard!

The Bank of British Columbia had been established in 1862 and issued its own dollar banknotes between 1863 and 1894. Today $48,797 remain in its outstanding banknotes. In 1901, it merged with the Canadian Bank of Commerce.

Prior to the circa 1909 standardizing of its address system, many of the city’s buildings had held somewhat random street numbers.

The Bank of British Columbia Building was designated as a heritage site by the City of Victoria in 1975 and is registered in the Canadian Registry of Historic Places.

The Williams Building 1901

1020 Government Street

The home of Lush Cosmetics was constructed in 1901—early in Victoria’s Edwardian building boom. It once had been owned by a Mr. Charles Heywood.

Heywood had arrived in Victoria in 1862 from Stratford, Essex, England to establish a cabinetmaking business. After making a leap from cabinetry to the design and crafting of caskets in 1867, he established the BC Funeral Furnishing Company. To accommodate the growing business, he purchased 1020 Government Street in 1907.

Though not an undertaker, Heywood provided Victorians of all classes with a range of funeral services and furnishings including caskets, wreaths, mourning clothes, and memorial books. His team of black horses once pulled his plumed and ornately carved black hearse with its silver trim and plate glass windows through the streets of town, while his children’s hearse was drawn by white ponies.

For the wealthy, he often coordinated entire funeral ceremonies—many of which were held at the Church of Our Lord, the church Heywood had helped his friend Bishop Cridge build at the foot of Blanshard Street.

Heywood served as the city’s mayor from 1900-02. Among his accomplishments during his term was the construction of the permanent causeway linking the James Bay district to downtown.

Once a two-storey affair, the building is currently of a single storey.

Prior to the circa 1909 standardizing of its address system, many of the city’s buildings had held somewhat random street numbers.

The Galpin Block 1884

1017-19 Government Street

The home of Glam & Fame Clothing and Better Acres Ice Cream was built in 1884 during the city’s 1880s development boom. It was the first of several Victoria commercial buildings built for the British publisher and investor Thomas Galpin. It’s three storey design is attributed to Dennis Harris, the civil engineer who had also designed the neighbouring 1007 through 1021 Government Street.

By 1907, the engraver John R. Mackie and Challoner & Mitchell Diamond Merchants occupied its two street level shops. From 1917 until 1924 both store fronts were occupied by John Norrie’s Irish Linen Shop.

The Alexandra Club

In 1900 the building’s second and third stories was home to the Alexandra Club, formed by the women banned from the then men’s only Union Club. The club served as a literary, creative, and educational centre to strengthen the contributions of women to the local society. In 1911 the club moved into their own $51,000 ($1,740,000) building at 716 Courtney Street. That four-storey Edwardian brick building boasted a ballroom, dining room, lounges, and accommodations for 30 female guests and visitors. Currently, the Provincial Government is the building’s primary tenant.

Following the club’s 1911 move, the upper stories of the Galpin Block were converted into the Albion Hotel. In 1912, the owner of the adjacent Brown Jug Saloon took over operation of the hotel to comply with the requirement that drinking establishments must offer accommodations. With British Columbia’s Prohibition Act of 1917, it reverted back to be simply a hotel. Currently, its upper floors are occupied by the Provincial Government.

Prior to the circa 1909 standardizing of its address system, many of the city’s buildings had held somewhat random street numbers.

The Sommer’s Building 1888

1012-1014 Government Street

In 1888 The Lazy Bear Gift Shoppe was the home of Joseph Sommer’s art supply, gallery and picture framing shop—hub of the day’s socially influential Island Arts and Crafts Society. A sample of Sommer’s work currently resides in the Craigdarroch Castle collection—the framed color lithographic print of the Charles Edward Johnson, R.I. painting Bringing Home The Stag. It is possible it had been purchased by John Cowper Bryden and Elizabeth Hamilton Dunsmuir, eldest child of Robert and Joan Olive Dunsmuir. It was donated to Craigdarroch Castle in 2023 by their grandson, Peter Croft Bryden.

As the popularity of photography grew, Sommer began to carry photographic supplies.

In 1907 Edgar and Harold Fleming took occupancy of the building’s second storey at 1014 Government Street. Beginning primarily as portrait photographers, the brothers work expanded to record Victoria Harbour activity during the Klondike Gold Rush. In 1896 Edgar was hired as photographer for an expedition that explored Vancouver Island. The Fleming’s scenic photographs of Victoria became very popular with tourists of the day with one of Edgar Fleming’s photographs exhibited at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.

Though simple in its design, the two-storey brick building, designed by John Teague in 1888, remains an important link in Government Street’s Victorian presence. More than any other, Teague’s firm set the tone for the city’s commercial architecture from the late 1870s through to the early 1890s.

Prior to the circa 1909 standardizing of its address system, many of the city’s buildings had held somewhat random street numbers.

The Hamley Building 1885

1001-1003 Government Street

This four-storey building is home to both Victoria’s Swatch Store and the Olde Tyme Candy Shoppe. It had been named for it first owner, Wymond Hamley—onetime Collector of Customs for the Colony of British Columbia. The work of the civil engineer Dennis Harris.

Distinguished by its bevelled commercial entrance and its Romanesque second storey windows, whose detailing are identical to those on both the Bridgman, Greenwood, and Albion Hotel buildings, so it is possible that Harris designed them all.

Originally a three-storey brick building constructed in 1885, it replaced Fort Victoria’s vegetable garden during Victoria’s 1880’s development boom. By 1907 its ground floor tenants were appropriately a jeweller, and Dominion Express. Its upper storeys, accessed at 602 Broughton Street, were occupied by two surveying businesses

The fourth storey addition, designed by William Ridgeway Wilson in 1912, was Hamley’s daughter, Mrs. Diana Irving’s response to Victoria’s Pre-World War One economic boom.

Prior to the circa 1909 standardizing of its address system, many of the city’s buildings had held somewhat random street numbers.

The Hamley Building is listed on the Canadian Register of Historic Places.

The F. Moore Building 1903

911 Government Street

Originally, Experience Victoria’s Curated Collection of Unique Gifts was the retail outlet for the Victoria Chemical Company which manufactured a range of acids, fertilizers and tree sprays at its 7 Dallas Road plant on the Outer Harbour.

Constructed in 1903 at the beginning of Victoria’s Pre-World War One real estate boom, it is the middle address in Government Street’s unique three-building composition known as the “Roger’s Block”—a cooperative project of its original owners. It’s two masonry buildings were designed to appear as a single two-storey structure in the day’s popular Classical Revival style. The two outside blocks feature metal clad bay windows projecting from the second storey while the centre structure rose three feet higher than the adjoining blocks in order to accommodate a higher first-storey ceiling. All three were unified by a common metal cornice and frieze design. Each combined the street level shop of its owner with living accommodations above.

The Roger’s Block was the work of the British Columbian architectural firm of Hooper & Teague (many of Hooper’s commercial projects made a significant contributed to the early character of downtown Victoria.

Prior to the circa 1909 standardizing of its address system, many of the city’s buildings had held somewhat random street numbers.

The F. Moore Building is registered in the Canadian Registry of Historic Places.

📱 Show the Fresh Air Museum on your phone at checkout and receive 15% off your entire purchase at Experience Victoria Gift Shop.

Harbour Centre Mall

910 Government Street

At one time the shops on the western side of Government Street’s 900 block offered Victorians the confections of Charles “Candy” Rogers; compounds prepared by the chemist George A. Fraser; fresh and prepared meats from Porter & Son; and furs from the BC Fur Manufacturing Co. Ltd.’s retail outlet. Above them the building’s second storeys housed the offices of real estate agents Drury & MacGunn; barristers Bodwell & Lawson; and the engineering firm of George Hargreaves.

By 1891, with Victoria’s population having exploded to approximately 23,000, Thomas Dixon Galpin, a London, England publisher, consolidated the block’s buildings to accommodate his British Columbia Land & Investment Agency. With the 1900-14 real estate boom, Galpin had become the city’s principal land marketer—owning or controlling up to half of downtown’s land upon which he commissioned a number of the area’s Edwardian Classical Revival buildings.

In September of 1974, Reliance Properties’ Ltd replaced the block with its Harbour Centre Shopping Mall. With the mall satisfing many of downtown residents’ daily needs without having to drive, the Harbour Centre Mall has a Walk Score rating of 99 out of 100.

Prior to the circa 1909 standardizing of its address system, many of Victoria’s buildings had held somewhat random street numbers.

The Brown and Cooper Building 1909

909 Government Street

The home of Makers Handmade and Artisan Goods is the southmost address of the unique two-building composition sharing its common Classical Revival two storey façade with its two northern neighbours. Currently known as the Roger’s Block, it was a cooperative development of its three original owners at the beginning of Victoria’s Pre-World War One real estate boom. During the boom, Government Street was overtaking Wharf Street as Victoria’s primary commercial street. Each of the blocks three addresses combined its owner’s street level shop with living accommodations above. Originally owned by Mr. Charles “Candy” Rogers, 909 Government Street was rented to Brown & Cooper, fishmongers and fruiterers with a H.E. Newton residing above.

The complex was designed by Thomas Hooper & John Teague, (Hooper’s many commercial projects had made a significant contribution to the character of downtown Victoria).

Prior to the circa 1909 standardizing of its address system, many of the city’s buildings had held somewhat random street numbers.

The Brown and Cooper Building is registered in the Canadian Registry of Historic Places.

The Metropolitan Building 1903

811-817 Government Street

The Canadian Pacific Railway’ commitment to build the elegant Empress Hotel marked the beginning of Victoria’s transformation from a supply and manufacturing hub to a renowned health and pleasure destination. Recognizing the opportunity, Joseph and Lewis Rostein commissioned Thomas Hooper and C. Elwood Watkins to design their Rostein Building in 1903. In 1904 it was renamed the Metropolitan Building.

Strategically located near the Inner Harbour, the original Post Office building, and the site of the future Empress (1908), the Metropolitan Building has remained in continuous commercial use since its completion. Its five generous storefronts initially housed Betty’s Café, Montague Bridgeman Fine China, and the bicycle department of Plimley’s, a local automobile retailer, and M. Tsingloy’s Fruits and Vegetables. The American consulate occupied the second floor, adding to the building’s early prestige. In 1946 the architectural firm of Birley, Wade and Stockdill removed the building’s cornice from the Government Street façade and altered the street level store fronts.

Prior to the circa 1909 standardizing of its address system, many of the city’s buildings had held somewhat random street numbers.

The Metropolitan Building is listed on the Canadian Register of Historic Places.

The Belmont Building 1912

801-807 Government Street / 600-620 Humboldt Street

By 1872, the Belmont Saloon had replaced the John Bull Hotel on the eastern shore of the Inner Harbour, just to the north of the mouth of long-lost James Bay.

Following the O’Reilly family’s purchase of the property in August of 1911, the saloon was demolished and in March of 1912 a City of Victoria building permit was issued to The Belmont Ltd. It described architect Samuel Hoult Horton’s Edwardian work as a “new reinforced concrete building (Victoria’s first), eight storey, 180 rooms, purpose: offices and stores, with an estimated construction cost of $400,000” ($13,400,000 today)

The building’s Portland cement was sourced from Robert Pym Butchart’s quarry, now Butchart Gardens. With the building’s opening in 1912, Butchart headquartered his Vancouver Portland Cement Company in the new building. During WWI, as Director of Wooden Ship Building, he located its offices in the building as well. Another notable original tenant was William Gardener, the developer of the residential masterpiece, the Uplands Residential District.

From a distance, one will notice a small structure atop the Belmont. For years, as noon approached, many an eye was lifted to the “time-ball” raised to the top of the structure’s long-gone mast. At a signal from the Gonzales Observatory at precisely noon (8 PM, Greenwich Mean Time), the ball dropped to allow mariners in the harbour to co-ordinate their navigational chronometers while on land, folks adjusted their wind-up watches to the correct time. The rooftop hut is all that remains of yesteryear’s important system.

Today, under stewardship of Jawl Properties Ltd., two excellent street level restaurants offer indoor and outdoor dining, while a number of unique shops make intriguing offerings to passersby. British Columbia’s Provincial Government is the major tenant of this, one of Victoria’s most historically significant buildings.

Prior to the circa 1909 standardizing of its address system, many of the city’s buildings had held somewhat random street numbers.

The building a registered in the Canadian Registry of Historic Places.