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Government House, Victoria, n.d.
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| Title | Government House, Victoria, n.d. |
| Photographer | Unknown |
| Date | n.d. |
| Notes | On verso of image: British Columbia government Photograph, No. 8438, Government House
Filed in British Columbia--Victoria |
| Contextual Notes | Government House is the Ceremonial Home of all British Columbians. The House also contains the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, the representative of Her Majesty The Queen of Canada, and offices of the administrative staff who support the duties and activities associated with the appointment. This is the fourth residence to be built on the site. The original structure, erected in 1852, burned to the ground after only three months. It was rebuilt as Cary Castle, the residence of George Hunter Cary, Attorney General of British Columbia and Vancouver Island, in 1860, and purchased by the Province in 1865 as the official residence of the Governor of Vancouver Island. When, Vancouver Island merged with Mainland British Columbia in 1866, forming a single Crown Colony, Victoria became its Capital.
Five years later, on 20 July 1871, British Columbia entered Confederation as a province of Canada, and Cary Castle became Government House, the official residence of the Lieutenant Governor of the Province of British Columbia.
After being destroyed for the second time by fire, in May 1899, a new Government House was designed by architects Francis M. Rattenbury and Samuel Maclure and completed in 1903. This new mansion occupied its imposing site overlooking the Straits of Juan de Fuca until it too was razed by fire in April 1957 leaving only the porte cochère.
The present Government House, officially opened on May 19, 1959, is T-shaped with a full basement and ground, second and third floors. The structural frame is of steel-reinforced concrete finished in grey, blue and pink rock-faced British Columbia granite. Dressed stone sills and coping are of local Haddington Island stone. The terraces and balconies are paved with black Jervis Inlet slate. |
| Subjects (LCTGM) | Official residences--British Columbia--Victoria |
| Subjects (LCSH) | Government House (Victoria, B.C.); Lieutenant governors--Dwellings--British Columbia--Victoria; Victoria (B.C.)--Buildings, structures, etc. |
| Location Depicted | Canada--British Columbia--Victoria |
| Digital Collection | Alaska, Western Canada and United States Collection
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| Order Number | AWC0759
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| Ordering Information | To order a reproduction, inquire about permissions, or for information about prices see: http://www.lib.washington.edu/specialcollections/services/reproduction-info |
| Repository | University of Washington Libraries. Special Collections Division |
| Repository Collection | Canada Photograph Collection. PH Coll 393 |
| Object Type | Photograph |
| Digital Reproduction Information | Scanned from a photographic print using a Microtek Scanmaker 9600XL at 100 dpi in JPEG format at compression rate 3 and resized to 768x600 ppi. 2004. |
| Restrictions | For information on permissions for use and reproductions please visit UW Libraries Special Collections Reproduction & Use page
http://content.lib.washington.edu/sc-use.html |
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