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

The Irish Times offers cozy nooks, fireplaces, rich dark wood panelling, finely etched Victorian glass doors and windows, glittering gold chandeliers and a large 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, explore Canada’s largest selection of Irish whiskeys, or delve into an expansive wine list.

Whatever your choice might be—Sláinte!

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 for a prestigious tea merchant in Britain, John Murchie delivered tea to Queen Victoria at Balmoral Castle. In 1894, his adventurous spirit carried his passion for tea blending halfway around the world to British Columbia, where he established Murchie’s Tea, becoming 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, then in 1890, a furniture factory. The current Edwardian brick building was erected in 1907. Following a major renovation in 1987, Murchie’s Tea and Coffee took occupancy. Visitors enjoy a wide collection of teas, coffees pastries, cakes, and both fine breakfast and luncheon menus in the charming ambience of the spacious interior, particularly noting the ornate original tin ceiling. 

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 wandered, often penniless, from California up to British Columbia collecting stories. In 1896 he was hired by the Canadian Bank of Commerce, built at this location in 1885, where he worked until posted north to the Yukon in1903.

The larger-than-life tales of the Klondike Gold Rush fired his imagination. His first two poems, The Shooting of Dan McGrew andThe Cremation of Sam McGee captured the world’s attention. His Songs of a Sourdough then allowed him to quit the bank and wonder and 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 Building is registered in the Canadian Registry of Historic Places.

The Williams Building 1901

1020 Government Street

The home of Lush Cosmetics, was constructed by Warren Heywood Williams in 1901, at the beginning of the Edwardian Era. Though once a two-storey building, it is currently of a single storey. By 1907 the building became home to B.C. Funeral Furnishing Co. 

During the Edwardian Era, funeral furnishing services were often established by fine cabinet makers who specialized in the design and crafting of coffins. Though they were not undertakers, they provided a range of furnishings including funeral wreaths, mourning clothes, and memorial books. They would often coordinate entire funeral ceremonies for the wealthy.

The Galpin Block 1884

1017-19 Government Street

The three-story 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 commercial buildings built in Victoria for the British publisher and investor Thomas Galpin. It is attributed to Dennis Harris, the civil engineer who also designed the neighbouring buildings at 1007 through 1021 Government Street. 

By 1907 the engraver John R. Mackie and Challoner & Mitchell diamond merchants occupied its two ground floor shops. The Alexandra Club occupied the second floor until its 1911 conversion to the Albion Hotel. In 1912 the owner of the adjacent Brown Jug Saloon took over the hotel to comply with the requirement that drinking establishments must offer accommodations. With British Columbia’s 1917 Prohibition Act, it reverted back to simply a hotel. From 1917 until 1924 its shops were occupied by John Norrie’s Irish Linen Shop. Currently, its upper floors are occupied by the Provincial Government.

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—the hub of the day’s socially influential Island Arts and Crafts Society. As the popularity of photography grew, Sommer began carrying photographic supplies The Fleming Brothers took occupancy of the building’s second storey at 1014 Government in 1907. In addition to their photographic laboratory and camera rental business, the Fleming’s scenic photographs of Victoria became very popular with tourists of the day—one of Edgar Fleming photograph was exhibited at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. 

Though simple in design, the two-storey brick building, designed by John Teague in 1888, remains an important link in Government Street’s Fleming’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.

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 was named for it first owner, Wymond Hamley—the onetime Collector of Customs for the Colony of British Columbia.

Distinguished by its bevelled commercial entrance and its Romanesque second storey windows, it was the work of the civil engineer Dennis Harris. Originally a three-storey brick building constructed in 1885, it replaced Fort Victoria’s vegetable garden during Victoria’s development boom of the 1880’s. By 1907 its ground floor tenants were appropriately a jeweller, and Dominion Express. Its upper storeys, accessed at 602 Broughton Street, were occupied by the 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. 

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. Each of its three addresses 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 & Watkins. Their many commercial projects made a significant contributed to the early character of downtown Victoria. 

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.

The Brown and Cooper Building 1909

909 Government Street

The home of Makers Handmade and Artisan Goods was originally home to Brown & Cooper, fishmongers and fruiterers. It is the southmost of Government Street’s unique three-building composition known as the Roger’s Block—a cooperative development of its three original owners. Its two masonry buildings were designed in the day’s Classical Revival style to appear as a single two-storey construct by the British Columbian architectural firm of Hooper & Watkins. Their many commercial projects had made a significant contribution to early downtown Victoria’s character.

Each of the blocks three addresses combined its owner’s street level shop with living accommodations above. Built in 1909 at the beginning of Victoria’s Pre-World War One real estate boom as Government Street was overtaking Wharf Street as Victoria’s most important commercial street.

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 their Metropolitan Building in 1903.

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. The American consulate occupied the second floor, adding to the building’s early prestige.

The Belmont Building 1912

801-807 Government Street / 600-620 Humboldt Street

The 1912 Belmont Building at the northeast corner of the Inner Harbour Precinct, establishes the gateway to historic Government Street. The concrete for Victoria’s first reinforced concrete office building was provided by one of Victoria’s great entrepreneurs—Robert Pym Butchart (see Butchart Gardens). Butchart headquartered both his Portland cement enterprise, the only one west of the Great Lakes at the time, and his office of Director of Wooden Ship Building for the First World War’s Imperial Munitions Board in the Belmont Building. Another of the building’s notable original tenants was William Gardener, developer of Oak Bay’s residential masterpiece, the Uplands Residential District.

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

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