photograph
Artwork
Accession Number
2022.007.022Description
One black and white photograph of the British Columbia Legislative building and Inner Harbour in Victoria, B.C. The Canadian Pacific Steamship terminal is visible, as is a steamship with smoke coming from one of its three funnels. The open ocean of the Strait of Juan de Fuca is visible on the horizon.Narrative
This photograph was taken from an upper floor of the north addition of the Empress Hotel offers an exceedingly clear and detailed view of of Victoria's Inner Harbour. In addition to the Legislative buildings and the Canadian Pacific Steamship office, the former residence of Sir James Douglas is visible at the southeast corner of Belleville and Government Streets. To the left of the steamship is the James Bay Athletic Association’s floating canoe house. To the right of Legislative Building is Fairview, the former home of Robert and Joan Dunsmuir, and where Robert Dunsmuir died in 1889.On the right (west) side of the lawn, a bronze statue of Queen Victoria sits on the grass, awaiting installation atop the Swedish granite plinth partially obscured by a small tree near the terminus of the main sidewalk that leads from the Legislative Building to Belleville Street.
The cornerstone for the sculpture was ceremonially laid by H.R.H. Prince of Wales on September 24, 1919.
Various newspaper articles indicate that the sculpture sat on the lawn for almost two years before being installed on the plinth. The sculptor, Albert Bruce-Joy did not attend the unveiling ceremony. He took great exception to the location chosen by the government to install his artwork:
"A bronze statue, facing north, as they have placed it, looks like 16 feet of nothing. It is also so sited that anyone looking at it must stand right under it, go out on a roadway and be run over by a motor car, or fall backwards into the water. The site is an absolutely impossible one." 1
1. MacCormac, John. "Victoria Has Lost Its Standing in Art Circles" Vancouver Province. May 6, 1921, page 1.
