1176 Yates Street, Victoria, BC

I found out about this one when I was first looking into 2321 Cook Street, since they are/were owned by the same person (Robin Kimpton), but didn't make it there until yesterday. It's been sitting here derelict for over 10 years.

Apparently it was once called Danescourt and had 17 light housekeeping suites (not entirely sure what a "light housekeeping suite" is--an apartment without much of a kitchen?).

right side

left side

left side from the back

back

I like it when there are apartment complexes next door to these things because then you can wander into their parking lots to get a view of the back

Another part of the left side. Almost looks like a normal house.

This is another one with a definite history. Going chronologically:

• 1904: Constructed by Robert Dunsmuir as a residence for nursing staff, according to one person on a message board. Can't find any other sources to corroborate that, though, except one tweet.
• Advertised in The Daily Colonist in 1912 and 1913.
• People lived there! A bookkeeper in 1909, the next of kin of two different soldiers who enlisted in 1915, the parents of a solider who died in 1916, someone random who "found this place and lured Dana to move in" in 1979 (he has a whole list of his past residences and little notes about each), and accused legislature bomb plotter John Nuttall (he and his partner are apparently on trial right now). In this transcription of the 1901 Victoria census, it's also mentioned (as 1176 Yates and Danes Court Apartments) in the "Remarks" section (which contains additional information, not from the census, on each person) as the residence of a mother and her daughter when they both died--the mother in 1931, the daughter in 1963. Interestingly, the daughter married a man with the last name Danes, and the mother's maiden name was Prudhomme.
• In June 1939 the Daily Colonist reported that a fire was called in there, but it was a false alarm (search "Danes Court" on that page to find it--it's just a very brief note).
• In September 1939 the Daily Colonist included an ad from someone who lived there looking to get their stolen fishing tackle back (again, search "Danes Court").
• At one point a tenant was shot and killed outside. An "ongoing dispute [between two tenants] was ignored by the building’s manager until one night when both tenants went over the edge – the police were called, only to arrive the moment that bullets began to fly."
• May 2000: Firefighters and paramedics showed up at the building to save a former major league pitcher, Frank Williams, who collapsed from a drug overdose while there visiting his brother. In Frank's words: "I got in the wrong crowd of people, partying, staying out all night, doing something stupid. It was me being a stupid drunk at 3 o’clock in the morning saying, 'I want some coke,' and they give me down. With alcohol mixed with it, boom, it just knocked me to the ground. They were supposed to give me coke and they gave me heroin." The article calls the place a flophouse (writing this post is making me feel really ignorant--I don't think I've heard that term before, but apparently it refers to a cheap rooming house; Wikipedia has more details) and describes it unflatteringly: "The brown hallway carpet was ratty and stained, the air stank of old cooking and stale urine." It also notes that rent was $425 per month. Frank's brother, Francis, who lived there, had a spinal column injury in 1995 that left him "with limited control of his limbs." The article tells the whole story of him and Frank and one of the firefighters who helped save Frank, who was also a baseball player.
• November 2003: The building's 15 tenants were kicked out. "Inspectors found weight-bearing beams in the basement had been cut and weight-bearing posts had been undermined. Upstairs, one weight-bearing wall had been removed entirely. [...] there were open pipes in the house and sewer gas seeping into the building. Inspectors also found electrical work that had been done without permit and renovations in the attic where there is no fire escape." A former tenant complained of "ongoing construction late at night, a leaky gas stove, the lack of a smoke detector, mice, and debris falling from the ceiling." Kimpton sent a letter to the building inspector calling the closure of the building "drastic".
• February 2004: At a "Committee of the Whole" meeting (I don't know what that is...), "L. Ferguson, a former tenant [...], outlined the problems she faced with alterations made by her former landlord including lost rent and additional moving costs" (page 9).
• June 2004: The city issued a demolition permit for the building (can't find any other mention of this, though). Its possible heritage value was discussed at another Committee of the Whole meeting. "Staff indicated that property owner’s consent is required for heritage designation, and was directed by the Committee to contact the property owner to discuss the possibility of including the building in the City’s Heritage Registry" (page 4). Apparently nothing ever came of that.
• An article in the Fernwood Community Association's spring 2006 newsletter includes a pre-boarded-windows photo (page 3).
• Kimpton defended himself in a message board post about his run for city council in November 2011 (here's an article about his run). "Over the years, I have dealt with the hard to house or difficult tenants, often not by choice but unfortunately due to the nature of what Victoria has to offer. The Yates and Cook properties were prime examples. Unfortunately, I had a manager prior to 2001 who did not care. I came to Victoria in 2001 to try and attack the mess. I lived in a sleeping bag in the basement of Yates and Cook and tried to stem the tide of drug dealings and drug use. [...] I spent some $250,000 on the two buildings between 2001 and 2003 when the buildings were shut by the City." He says he's tried to talk to the city about developing the properties in order to provide more low-cost housing, but was always ignored. He also wrote, "With respect to Yates Street from information provided by the City, if Yates Street were torn down a duplex could be built there. In my opinion, this is not a reasonable option for a building in this location with a 30 unit property and a 45 unit property on either side. Given the angst and animosity which seems to exist in the City [...] I will not go forward with this property where I have to ask the City for any sort of variance."
• October 2012/March 2013: Kimpton tried to sell the property (along with 2321 Cook) as "Potentially an 8 to 12 unit strata type development."
• Apparently it was also for sale in January 2014, but I can't find any other mentions of that or any info on what the result was.
• March 2015: A small exterior fire damaged only the front door frame (the fire department is, luckily, right down the street). Arson is suspected (a can of camping fuel was apparently used to start it). According to the fire inspector, "There had been squatters there in the past and signs of activity," but no one was in the building at the time of the fire. See a photo here (you can't really see anything, though).

Google's street view photos are from April 2014, before the upper windows were boarded up.

As for its current state, a message board poster says, "The roof became compromised several years ago and the rain water pours in through all the levels rotting floor by floor. Take a hazmat suit and a properly fitted respirator if you ever tour this building." So it'll probably share a fate with 2321 Cook eventually.