By Lane Chevrier

Watch your feet.

That’s the first thing you would have learned when first discovering how to walk. Yet if you do so while strolling through this community, you’ll miss a great deal.

The Victoria Heritage Foundation and the City of Victoria have put together a perfect afternoon for you, in the form of a small blue piece of paper that holds direction to 109 character buildings in the north-east corner of James Bay. This is the James Bay Heritage Walking Tour. By way of a map and guided instructions, it takes you over a roughly twenty-four block circuit, pointing the buildings to you one after another, and giving a couple of interesting tidbits about each one.

For example:
146 Clarence D – 1883, 1893 N part by arch’t Sam Maclure. 1907-12 owner Wm Wallace Gibson built, in back yard, first Canadian-built aeroplane to fly in W Canada: 8 Sep 1910, 200ft over Lansdowne field. 1977 owners won Hallmark Rest ‘n Award.


146 Clarence Drive

New to this most recent printing of the tour is a small section of illustrations showing different styles of architectural mouldings and designs that append to certain small notes that appear in description of some of the houses. There is also a handful of actual photos scattered throughout the brochure that give you an idea of what you are looking at.

The best part about this whole thing is that it can be performed completely independently. Walking Tour brochures are available from the Tourist Info Centre on Wharf St, City Hall, James Bay Coffee and Books, and in front of 609 Toronto St. The tour is not in the form of an organized group, so you can take it whenever it is convenient for you. Since many of the streets are quiet back lanes, it’s the perfect venue for a relaxing sunny day.

Walking Tours are also available for Fernwood and North Park, with many more to come!

The Victoria Heritage Foundation was created in 1983, shortly after the City established a funding program in 1978 to aid owners of designated heritage houses with the restoration and maintenance of the exteriors of their historic homes. They aim to protect our city’s past, and grants are awarded for exterior and structural restoration, and seismic upgrading.

Photo by Lane Chevrier