Victoria History Archives | Eve Lazarus Tue, 31 Mar 2026 22:48:49 +0000 en-CA hourly 1 The Captain’s House: A Halloween Ghost Story https://evelazarus.com/the-captains-house-a-halloween-ghost-story/ https://evelazarus.com/the-captains-house-a-halloween-ghost-story/#comments Sat, 25 Oct 2025 13:49:35 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=17522 When the Grays bought the house on Heritage Lane in Saanich in 1990, they didn’t know that it came with a few ghosts.  

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]]> https://evelazarus.com/the-captains-house-a-halloween-ghost-story/feed/ 3 Emily Carr’s $5.5 Million Cabin https://evelazarus.com/emily-carrs-5-5-million-cabin/ https://evelazarus.com/emily-carrs-5-5-million-cabin/#comments Sat, 20 Jul 2024 13:59:00 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=14755 Emily Carr’s 100-year-old Oak Bay cabin could be yours for $5.5 million dollars! The good news is that it comes with a 10-bedroom heritage house designed by Samuel Maclure. In 1913, Emily Carr paid $900 for a plot of land on Victoria Avenue in Oak Bay. According to a story,* she built a 12 by… Continue reading Emily Carr’s $5.5 Million Cabin

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]]> https://evelazarus.com/emily-carrs-5-5-million-cabin/feed/ 2 Francis Rattenbury: A Halloween Horror Story https://evelazarus.com/francis-rattenbury/ https://evelazarus.com/francis-rattenbury/#comments Sat, 21 Oct 2023 14:10:09 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=14089 Francis Rattenbury moved to Victoria in 1892. The 25-year-old had beat out 60 other architects to win the design competition for BC’s Parliament Buildings. Although massively over budget, the commission propelled the young architect’s career, and before long he had a slew of buildings after his name including the Empress Hotel, The Crystal Gardens, the… Continue reading Francis Rattenbury: A Halloween Horror Story

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]]> https://evelazarus.com/francis-rattenbury/feed/ 5 The Marvellous Inventions of Barney Oldfield (1913-1978) https://evelazarus.com/the-marvellous-inventions-of-barney-oldfield/ https://evelazarus.com/the-marvellous-inventions-of-barney-oldfield/#comments Sat, 12 Feb 2022 16:03:55 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=12150 You can be forgiven if National Inventors’ Day (February 11) passed you by yesterday, but it gives me a great excuse to write about Barney Oldfield, one of British Columbia’s own treasures. Barney Oldfield: Horace Basil (Barney) Oldfield was a mechanical genius and inventor who lived most of his life in Saanich, just outside of… Continue reading The Marvellous Inventions of Barney Oldfield (1913-1978)

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]]> https://evelazarus.com/the-marvellous-inventions-of-barney-oldfield/feed/ 15 Russian Freighter Collides with BC Ferry https://evelazarus.com/bc-ferries-and-the-russian-freighter/ https://evelazarus.com/bc-ferries-and-the-russian-freighter/#comments Sat, 24 Jul 2021 13:40:06 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=11615 On August 2, 1970 three people died when Russian freighter Sergey Yesenin collided with BC ferry the Queen of Victoria in Active Pass. The freighter’s steel bow sliced through the ferry almost cutting it in half. From Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History Active Pass: One of the highlights of taking a BC… Continue reading Russian Freighter Collides with BC Ferry

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]]> https://evelazarus.com/bc-ferries-and-the-russian-freighter/feed/ 16 The Point Ellice Bridge Disaster – May 26, 1896 https://evelazarus.com/the-point-ellice-bridge-disaster-may-26-1896/ https://evelazarus.com/the-point-ellice-bridge-disaster-may-26-1896/#respond Sat, 26 May 2018 19:23:36 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=8333 On May 26, 1896, 143 people crammed onto Streetcar No. 16 to cross the Point Ellice Bridge. It was Queen Victoria’s birthday and they were on their way to attend the celebrations at Macaulay Point Park in Esquimalt. They never made it. The middle span of the bridge collapsed under the weight and the streetcar… Continue reading The Point Ellice Bridge Disaster – May 26, 1896

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]]> https://evelazarus.com/the-point-ellice-bridge-disaster-may-26-1896/feed/ 0 Vancouver’s Monkey Puzzle Tree Obsession https://evelazarus.com/vancouvers-monkey-tree-obsession/ https://evelazarus.com/vancouvers-monkey-tree-obsession/#comments Sun, 25 Mar 2018 00:12:48 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=8173 We probably have more monkey puzzle trees in BC than in all of their native Chile. The quirky trees started arriving in gardens in the 1920s. In 2012, I wrote a book called Sensational Victoria and one of my favourite chapters was Heritage Gardens. I visited and then wrote about large rich-people’s gardens like Hatley… Continue reading Vancouver’s Monkey Puzzle Tree Obsession

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]]> https://evelazarus.com/vancouvers-monkey-tree-obsession/feed/ 23 Emily Carr’s James Bay https://evelazarus.com/emily-carrs-james-bay/ https://evelazarus.com/emily-carrs-james-bay/#comments Sat, 03 Mar 2018 16:28:03 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=8122 Name recognition: Her name adorns a university, a school, a bridge, and a library. She is the subject of several documentaries, museum exhibits, books and plays. In 2009, her painting Wind in the Tree Tops sold for more than $2.1 million, one of the highest-priced Canadian paintings ever sold at auction. Tourists visit her family… Continue reading Emily Carr’s James Bay

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]]> https://evelazarus.com/emily-carrs-james-bay/feed/ 20 The Ghosts of the Fireside Grill https://evelazarus.com/the-ghosts-of-the-fireside-grill/ https://evelazarus.com/the-ghosts-of-the-fireside-grill/#comments Sat, 28 Oct 2017 21:18:14 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=7595 The Fireside Grill is situated on a ley line that runs down West Saanich Road, through Wilkinson Road, toward the Four Mile House—a reputedly haunted inn—to the Portage Inlet and Esquimalt Harbour. This story is an excerpt from Sensational Victoria. Tim Petropoulos, co-owner of the Fireside Grill since 2000, is a self-described skeptic when it… Continue reading The Ghosts of the Fireside Grill

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]]> https://evelazarus.com/the-ghosts-of-the-fireside-grill/feed/ 12 Stephen Joseph Thompson, photographer (1864-1929) https://evelazarus.com/the-photography-of-stephen-joseph-thompson-1864-1929/ https://evelazarus.com/the-photography-of-stephen-joseph-thompson-1864-1929/#comments Sat, 12 Aug 2017 14:01:01 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=7370 Stephen Joseph Thompson was a photographer working mostly in Vancouver and New Westminster between 1886 and 1905. I’m obsessed with a photographer named Stewart Joseph Thompson. I first heard of him a few weeks back when I saw a photo he’d taken of Georgia and Burrard Streets in the 1890s. Last week, I found a… Continue reading Stephen Joseph Thompson, photographer (1864-1929)

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]]> https://evelazarus.com/the-photography-of-stephen-joseph-thompson-1864-1929/feed/ 13 The Chinese Labour Corps: One of BC’s Best Kept Secrets https://evelazarus.com/the-chinese-labour-corps-one-of-bcs-best-kept-secrets/ https://evelazarus.com/the-chinese-labour-corps-one-of-bcs-best-kept-secrets/#comments Sat, 24 Jun 2017 14:34:29 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=7254 Robert Ashton kindly sent me this photo of hundreds of Chinese men standing on a hill with rows and rows of white army bell tents in the background. He also found a 1920 copy of Pacific Marine Review with this story. “During the last five months, almost 50,000 Chinese coolies have passed through the port… Continue reading The Chinese Labour Corps: One of BC’s Best Kept Secrets

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]]> https://evelazarus.com/the-chinese-labour-corps-one-of-bcs-best-kept-secrets/feed/ 16 Heritage Streeters from Victoria (with Patrick Dunae, Tom Hawthorn and Eve Lazarus) https://evelazarus.com/heritage-streeters-from-victoria-with-patrick-dunae-tom-hawthorn-and-eve-lazarus/ https://evelazarus.com/heritage-streeters-from-victoria-with-patrick-dunae-tom-hawthorn-and-eve-lazarus/#comments Sat, 25 Mar 2017 19:56:26 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=7022 This is an occasional series that asks people who love history and heritage to tell us their favourite existing building and the one that never should have been torn down. Patrick Dunae: Patrick A. Dunae is a Victoria-born historian. A past member of the City of Victoria Heritage Advisory Panel, he is currently president of the Friends… Continue reading Heritage Streeters from Victoria (with Patrick Dunae, Tom Hawthorn and Eve Lazarus)

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]]> https://evelazarus.com/heritage-streeters-from-victoria-with-patrick-dunae-tom-hawthorn-and-eve-lazarus/feed/ 2 Jim Munro (1929-2016) https://evelazarus.com/jim-munro-1929-2016/ https://evelazarus.com/jim-munro-1929-2016/#comments Sun, 27 Nov 2016 00:09:42 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=6841 I was so sad to hear of Jim Munro’s death last Monday. Jim was a huge promoter and lover of books, heritage buildings, art and authors, including of course, his first wife the Nobel prize winner Alice Munro. He was also a lovely man. I had the pleasure of meeting Jim a few years back… Continue reading Jim Munro (1929-2016)

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]]> https://evelazarus.com/jim-munro-1929-2016/feed/ 8 10 things I Love about Munro’s Books https://evelazarus.com/10-things-i-love-about-munros-books/ https://evelazarus.com/10-things-i-love-about-munros-books/#comments Fri, 29 Apr 2016 13:26:52 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=6425 1. It’s in Victoria 2. It’s 52 years old That means Munro’s has survived Amazon, consolidation and e-books. 3. Carole Sabiston’s tapestries. Eight large banners depict the seasons and decorate the interior of Munro’s. Carole is an incredibly accomplished textile artist. Her commissions include the giant Sunburst for the Expo ’86 opening ceremony in Vancouver… Continue reading 10 things I Love about Munro’s Books

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]]> https://evelazarus.com/10-things-i-love-about-munros-books/feed/ 9 Murder in James Bay https://evelazarus.com/murder-in-james-bay-2/ https://evelazarus.com/murder-in-james-bay-2/#comments Fri, 30 Oct 2015 17:36:43 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=6100 The following story is an excerpt from Sensational Victoria: “Murders in the Capital.” A few years after the Bests’ bought their James Bay home, a young woman knocked on the door and asked if she could come and take a look inside. She told them that her grandparents had lived in the cottage in the… Continue reading Murder in James Bay

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]]> https://evelazarus.com/murder-in-james-bay-2/feed/ 14 Five Eccentric B.C. Houses https://evelazarus.com/five-eccentric-b-c-houses/ https://evelazarus.com/five-eccentric-b-c-houses/#comments Sat, 18 Apr 2015 14:08:56 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=5431 Here are five of my favourite eccentric BC houses that still stand (or did at the time of research). 1. The Hobbit House(s) There are two in Vancouver and one in West Van designed by Ross Lort in the early 40s, and against all odds, all survive. Hobbit house at King Edward and Cambie is now… Continue reading Five Eccentric B.C. Houses

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]]> https://evelazarus.com/five-eccentric-b-c-houses/feed/ 15 The Curve of Time: national bestseller after more than 50 years https://evelazarus.com/the-curve-of-time-national-bestseller-after-more-than-50-years/ https://evelazarus.com/the-curve-of-time-national-bestseller-after-more-than-50-years/#comments Sat, 30 Aug 2014 21:16:05 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=4763 It’s been incredibly exciting seeing Sensational Vancouver claim the top spot on the Best of BC list for the past four weeks, and it’s made me pay close attention to the book section in the Vancouver Sun. What I’ve noticed is that M. Wylie Blanchet’s The Curve of Time, has ranked in the top 10… Continue reading The Curve of Time: national bestseller after more than 50 years

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]]> https://evelazarus.com/the-curve-of-time-national-bestseller-after-more-than-50-years/feed/ 8 Captain Voss and his Venturesome Voyage at BC Heritage Week https://evelazarus.com/captain-voss-and-his-venturesome-voyage-at-bc-heritage-week/ https://evelazarus.com/captain-voss-and-his-venturesome-voyage-at-bc-heritage-week/#respond Sun, 16 Feb 2014 04:16:51 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=3893 Story from Sensational Victoria The Tilikum lives at the Maritime Museum in Victoria and it’s well worth the visit. At 38-feet long it looks like a flimsy thing to take out in Victoria Harbour on a windy day, let alone around the world, but in 1901 Captain John Voss and Norman Luxton, a reporter from… Continue reading Captain Voss and his Venturesome Voyage at BC Heritage Week

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]]> https://evelazarus.com/captain-voss-and-his-venturesome-voyage-at-bc-heritage-week/feed/ 0 Christina Haas’s Cook Street Brothel https://evelazarus.com/christina-haass-cook-street-brothel/ https://evelazarus.com/christina-haass-cook-street-brothel/#comments Sat, 08 Feb 2014 23:34:16 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=3879 In 1912, when it was tough for a woman to make a decent living, Christina Haas arrived in Victoria and bought herself a brothel. Thomas Hooper once had the largest architectural practice in Western Canada. He designed hundreds of buildings including the Victoria Public Library, the Rogers Chocolates and the Munro’s Books Building in Victoria.… Continue reading Christina Haas’s Cook Street Brothel

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]]> https://evelazarus.com/christina-haass-cook-street-brothel/feed/ 18 Would you buy a murder house? https://evelazarus.com/would-you-buy-a-murder-house/ https://evelazarus.com/would-you-buy-a-murder-house/#comments Sun, 16 Jun 2013 19:25:44 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=3085 I’ve been writing about murder houses for a few years now and I’ve turned up everything from a North Vancouver shop keeper butchered by the Black Hand, to a poet beaten to death in her East Vancouver home, to the quiet Colwood home where a Victoria man murdered his wife and then found her head… Continue reading Would you buy a murder house?

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