1115-1117 Caledonia Avenue, Victoria, BC

Biked by these two last week and was intrigued, so I did some Googling (and returned today to take pics). I can't find out when or why they were abandoned, but I did uncover the plans for the future of the site. The houses are to be demolished and a "7-bed revenue 4-plex" is going to be built in their place. A drawing of the proposed building and more details on it can be viewed as a pdf, or on DFH Real Estate's website. It's noted that there are "two small homes of little value currently on the property".

This pdf (which consists of multiple documents regarding the proposed rezoning of the property to allow the construction of the new building) contains more information on the houses themselves. "Older single-family dwellings" (page 4), they are "the only two dilapidated houses on the block" (10) and "considered to be unsalvageable" (26). More specifically, they are "in very poor condition, they have no concrete foundations, they are sinking, there is substantial rot, and rodents as well as insects have become a problem" (10).

The owner apparently lives in Ontario (or at least did back when the rezoning was first being discussed), and according to a letter from the Fernwood Community Association (dated February 2013), "Neighbours of the property [have] expressed concerns about the owner's poor standards of maintenance and the undesirable tenants that have sometimes occupied these homes over the years" (26).

I was excited to discover this photo from the '70s here

There's also a little more on the proposed building--it's to be "character-style" and "have the look of a single-family dwelling" (10). This is probably because the Fernwood Neighbourhood Plan of 1994 encourages development "which maintains the integrity, look and character of the single family and duplex housing stock" (6). (And now that I think about it there really aren't any obvious apartment buildings in Fernwood, except the ones that have to be just because they're so huge).

The earliest document in this pdf is a letter dated January 2013 (page 10), and most of the others are from August of the same year, so obviously there's been some sort of hold-up (unless these things always take this long?). A custom zone was required for the four-plex to be built there, so maybe that's part of the reason. But, according to DFH Real Estate (on the page linked above), the property (or the development rights, maybe? not really sure how this stuff works) was sold in March 2015 (for $448,500) and now "All that is required is to obtain the building permit."

This site notes the rezoning issue coming up at Victoria City Council meetings in March and May 2014. The Google street view photos of the existing houses are from May 2014, pre-fence and graffiti.

the sign says "Land Use Application"

courtesy of Google

and Google again

Weird as it may be, I don't think removing these houses will necessarily help "beautify the neighbourhood" (as the letter on page 10 of the rezoning documents pdf says). I like the porch roof detailing on the one on the left, and the peeling shutter paint and the colors (graffiti and all) on the right one.

Plus they're interesting, and must have at least a little bit of a story. Even though apparently they're in pretty bad shape, they don't look it from the outside (at least I didn't see any evidence of them sinking into the ground or being overrun by bugs). Replacing them with a "character-style" (which I guess is nice, but it seems so fake) apartment building, even if it would be good for the economy and provide needed rental units (page 10 again) just seems sad.