Description of Historic Place

This historic place is a two-storey brick commercial building which has store frontage on Wharf Street, and warehouse access from Commercial Alley at the rear. It is characterized by an asymmetrical facade featuring a prominent oriel window.

Heritage Value

Although substantially altered from its original design, this 1891 commercial building is an important part of Wharf Street because it helps to maintain the continuity of the street wall and contributes to the historic character of one of the oldest collections of commercial buildings in Victoria. Its warehouse frontage on Commercial Alley at the rear is an excellent example of how a commercial building made ideal use of the city's network of passageways, which provided service spaces, stable areas, and secondary access for early businesses.

1215-1221 Wharf Street is part of a group of buildings in this area that were built for prominent early landowner and developer James Yates. It is reflective of the early development which transformed the city into the economic and urban hub of the province in the late nineteenth century.

Source: City of Victoria Planning and Development Department

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of 1215-1221 Wharf Street include:
- Its two-storey scale and massing.
- Upper storey fenestration pattern, including the sheet-metal-clad oriel window.
- Its relationship to Wharf Street, and to the collection of buildings which line the eastern side of the street.
- Its one storey warehouse space and its relationship to Commercial Alley at rear.