Description of Historic Place

Located on the south side of Bastion Square, 19 Bastion Square is a four-storey masonry building in the heart of Victoria’s Old Town National Historic Site. It is distinctive for its red brick construction, cast-iron columns and corbelled cornice. A narrow passageway runs to the east side of the building.

Heritage Value

19 Bastion Square, constructed in 1885 and enlarged during the Edwardian era, is part of an ensemble of historic Late Victorian and Edwardian-era commercial buildings that front onto Bastion Square, an historic urban space that is valued as a link to the earliest physical development of Victoria’s Old Town, and as a public urban space. This masonry structure contributes to the historic ambience of Bastion Square.

19 Bastion Square was built in 1885 for J.J. Southgate, a prosperous land developer, and represented a continuation of the buildings facing Wharf Street that constituted 'Commercial Row'. Southgate was also an elected member of the Legislative Council of British Columbia, which was established in 1867 as an advisory body, and additionally played an active role in Victoria’s Freemason community. Originally this was a simple one-storey red brick structure with cast-iron storefront columns. The first tenant was Carl Strouss & Company, wholesale Merchants & Importers; Strouss was an influential Victoria merchant who had business ties to Southgate. In 1904, the building was acquired by Walter S. Fraser & Company Hardware, who had the upper three floors added in 1909, reflecting the company’s success at the time and their need for more warehouse space.

Source: City of Victoria Planning Department

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of 19 Bastion Square include its:
- contribution to the character of Bastion Square, as part of an ensemble of late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century historic masonry buildings
- siting on the property lines, with no setbacks
- pedestrian passageway to the east side of the building
- commercial form, scale and massing as expressed by its four-storey height, rectangular plan with flat roof, and ground-level storefront
- cast-iron storefront columns
- masonry construction, including red-brick walls laid in regular bond, corbelled cornice, segmental-arched window openings, and parged window sills