1152 & 1154 Johnson Street

I discovered these two today, soon to be torn down to make way for condos. They were built in 1902, so they're over a hundred years old, but now we're going to lose them to development.

1152, left side--check out the lovely art glass window

art glass close-up

1152, back

1154, front

back

1154, back

1154, side

There's not much of a story here--from Google maps, it looks like they were lived in until just recently. So they're not technically abandoned, just vacated and waiting for demolition.

Google street view May 2014, looking like actual homes

Google's image of the back, May 2014

I also found some photos taken in October 2014 by Lotus Johnson (reproduced here under a creative commons license).

source (Flickr)

source (Flickr)

Another house, 1406 Chambers Street, also built in 1902, was already torn down to make way for the new development. It used to be right behind these two. I never saw it in person, but here's a photo taken by Lotus Johnson, also in October 2014.

source (Flickr)

Here's Google's image from May 2014. I bet the garage was original.

Google's image of the back of 1406 Chambers/side of 1152 Johnson, May 2015

So, basically, we're losing a cluster of 1902 houses, leaving this one on Chambers (also 1902) surrounded by new buildings. I wonder how long it will last.

This article about the new development, published October 6, 2015, says that "Currently at the site crews are dismantling structures in preparation for construction." I'm glad I caught the two on Johnson before they're completely gone.

515-517 Wilson Street, Victoria, BC

This is another one in Vic West, built in 1912, a lovely character home. It's got finials! And drop finials!

And obvious fire damage. Its story is pretty sad. First, there was a fire in January 2014. According to Victoria News: "A top-floor suite at a Vic West character home is uninhabitable [...] after a coil heater overloaded an extension cord. Victoria fire crews were called to the home [...] around 6:45 a.m. Inside, they found a man struggling to put out a hallway fire that was spreading from the carpet up the walls of his suite."

The Times-Colonist fills in more details: "Contrary to bylaws, the smoke alarm in the top-floor suite was not working, said Victoria Fire inspector Chris Royle. The top-floor suite had heavy smoke damage. Total damage is estimated at $20,000. The other suites are habitable and the tenants have returned home. [...] A long, lightweight extension cord powering a small space heater was found coiled on the carpet with some clothes on top. The heater was always running, putting the cord under a constant load. Royle said an electrical cord coiled and bundled together produces heat, which it can’t dissipate, causing the cord to melt and ignite."

Here's the house in May 2014, though (via Google), still looking fine from outside.

What makes the story so sad is that there was another, much worse fire in February 2015. You can read the whole story here, but basically the fire started in the basement around 10 p.m. and spread quickly; everyone got out, but there wasn't much the firefighters could do. A woman and her son had just moved into the top floor suite, which had just been fixed up after the 2014 fire, earlier that day. (More of their story specifically is in this article--really sad. :( There's also a post-fire interior photo.) The first article says that "The landlord, Tasma Hinch, inspected the damage on Monday, walking past the charred walls and stepping over debris in a state of near-disbelief. Hinch, who has owned the home for the last 40 years, said she expects it will take a year and a half to repair the structure". The fire caused about $600,000 worth of damage, rendering the house completely uninhabitable. One more relevant article is here. A previous tenant mourned the situation on Facebook, saying the house "had a cuteness about it".

Google's photos from May 2015 show signs that work is being done on it, or was; as you can see from my photos (taken just the other day), it doesn't look like much is going on now.

Here are a few more of mine. I love that house next door, a heritage-designated home built in 1906.

You can see where this is on the house in the third photo from the top

I'll be keeping an eye on it to see if the renovations progress, and I'll post an update here if I see that anything's changed.

234 Edward Street, Victoria, BC

I happened upon this one while biking in Vic West today. Ever since I started keeping an eye out for abandoned/boarded-up buildings, I've realized just how many there are around here (and probably every city), including some really interesting ones that aren't talked about online at all--like this one.

See older images below--two of these side windows were previously stuccoed over

There used to be a porch supporting the roof; see below

I could only find two references to it online. The first is this 2010 ad (found on page 4 here). The house looks pretty different, right?

Built in 1905; "offers a grand entry [and] gorgeous wood stair railing"; "needs work" but "what an exciting opportunity!"

Here it is in 2009 (thanks, Google!). This is the view from Edward Street; check out the Catherine Street view here.

See? Only one window on the side. Lovely stained glass on the bay window.

Ugh, stucco--but the new owners were taking the stucco off, restoring the house, in fact, according to the Victoria Heritage Foundation, which claims it "was rehabilitated in 2011-12". Here it is in August 2011, stucco mostly gone.

Here you can see that the new window was put in right where two old windows used to be

And June 2012, all stucco gone except the small patch that's still there today.

All windows free! Of both stucco and boards. Still loving the stained glass. Enjoy a close-up here.

Something's also going on with the porch there, and it was gone by September 2012.

In the next street view image, May 2014, it looks basically like it does now. So someone started fixing it up... and then stopped. Did they find something wrong with the house that made it not worth continuing? Was there a fire? Money issues? And will the work ever continue, or is the house (built in 1905, remember) now doomed to slowly rot away?

One more interesting thing to note is that e-valueBC, who assessed it in 2014, refers to it as a "non-manualized structure". Unfortunately, it doesn't look like that term is actually defined anywhere online. The "comments" section of the assessment page says "building unfinished". Thanks, e-valueBC. I just wish you could tell me why!