Description of Historic Place

Hotel Douglas is a five-storey Edwardian Commercial Style brick building located on the southwest corner of Pandora and Douglas Streets in the commercial core of Victoria.

Heritage Value

Hotel Douglas (1911) is valued as an early Victoria hotel, representing the seasonal population of the city in the early twentieth century. Historically, this hotel has played a significant economic role in the urban commercial area, providing both short and long-term lodging for people attracted by Victoria's tourist attractions, as well as for workers en route to logging camps or fisheries. It is significant that this hotel continues to operate at its original function.

This building is an excellent example of a modest hotel built in the period of economic prosperity prior to the First World War. The architecture is a solid representation of the Commercial Style, which was used extensively in western Canada in this time period and contributed to the ideal of the modern imperial city. The juxtaposition of Hotel Douglas with Victoria's City Hall creates a significant counterpoint of the forces that continue to drive the local economy: tourism and government administration. The presence of commercial services on the ground floor provides an important contribution to the functional streetscape in the downtown core.

Source: City of Victoria Planning and Development Department

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Hotel Douglas include:
-the juxtaposition of the hotel with City Hall;
-the early twentieth-century form and five-storey massing, and its prominent location on the corner of Douglas and Pandora Streets;
-the Commercial Style elements related to its 1911 construction, including the brick cladding, terra cotta decorative elements, the grid-like fenestration pattern, the substantial cornice with dental moulding, and the decorative floral flag pole on the northeast corner;
-the combined functions of commercial space at street level, with lodging in the upper floors.