Lot 658 East Johnson

Lot 658 East Johnson

Lower Johnson Street housed the ‘other’ side of Victoria, dividing it from the ‘Olde English’ style that the city was perceived. No garden parties or cricket in the “Old Town”.  The other side of the tracks consisted of the...
Lot 175 old town

Lot 175 old town

Johnson Street was originally a ravine which allowed water drainage to flow from town into the harbour. This ravine divided the occidental new immigrants and the oriental. Because the end of the ravine was where much of the harbour activity was taking place during the...
Lot 437 Pandora

Lot 437 Pandora

Did you know that this area of Pandora was the beginning of China town?  Between 1850 and 1880 there was a row of wooden shacks housing the first Chinese community in Victoria.  Between 1880 and 1900 the Chinese land owners started replacing the wood shacks with...
Lot 198 Commercial Lane

Lot 198 Commercial Lane

The huge influx of people when the gold rush started in 1858 caused a rushed panic of new buildings.  Fort Victoria was a small population in l853 of 450 Europeans and 700 of the Lekwammen people. It is estimated that 20,000 passed through in l858 and many stayed. The...
Lot 179 waddington alley

Lot 179 waddington alley

Waddington alley was created by land owner Alfred Waddington in 1858 so he could fit more stores on his property and therefore charge more rent.  The first ‘cheap shops’ that were hastily built using wood, some of it coming from the California redwoods,...