Local schools activity - building history of Oak Bay Avenue
18 July 2022
Oak Bay Avenue 100 years ago
Above: Oak Bay Avenue section of 1911 municipal planning map.
What was different in 1921?
There was a streetcar track along the north side of the road. The Oak Bay streetcar ran from downtown up Fort St, along Oak Bay Avenue and then down Newport to Windsor Park. It was built 1891 and ran until 1948. In the early days of the streetcar, a lot of Oak Bay was still farmland, and cows sometimes wandered onto the tracks! More here
The road was not paved, and there were no concrete sidewalks either.
There were many more single family homes with gardens on Oak Bay Avenue in 1921 than there are now. Only one is left (I think), at 2150 Oak Bay Avenue, next to Bosley’s pet supplies. There is a huge hedge in the front; more of the house is visible from Theatre Lane. The house was built by a Mr Henderson in 1910 – the same one that Henderson Road in north Oak Bay is named after. He was Reeve (Mayor) of Oak Bay 1909-11. It’s been divided into apartments but the outside looks the same. More about him: https://www.dictionaryofarchitectsincanada.org/node/2430
Elgin Road was called Burns St.
Granite St was called Gonzales Ave. More about street name changes here
Some of the address/house numbers have changed as occupancy became denser.
Oak Bay High School was where the Municipal Hall is now (2167). It had four classrooms.
The first municipal hall building was where Pharmasave is now. Photo:
There was a movie theatre on Oak Bay Avenue (the Avenue Theatre at 2013, not the later Oak Bay Theatre at 2188 – both buildings are still standing but have changed purposes)
You can see which people and businesses occupied properties on Oak Bay Avenue in the City Directory: https://bccd.vpl.ca/index.php/browse/title/1901/Victoria_City_Directory - in the left hand menu, choose ‘Victoria Streets’ and then ‘O’ for Oak Bay Avenue.
Detail of Oak Bay Avenue listings in 1921 Victoria directory - full page here
What is the same now as it was in 1921?
Oak Bay Avenue and many of the side streets had the names we know: Hampshire, Monterey, Oliver, Wilmot, Yale, Mitchell.
Some house numbers have changed over the years. Lot numbers as on the map above (not the same as address numbers) are attached to the land and not the buildings. These have stayed the same, so we can trace the history of different buildings on the same site as old ones are renovated, extended, demolished and replaced.
There were lots of different shops and businesses on Oak Bay Avenue as well as homes, though not as many as now. There were even apartment buildings 100 years ago.
The building at the NW corner of Oak Bay Avenue and Monterey was already built by 1921, and looked much the same as it does now. It was a grocery store for many years, and then a tearoom (café) for many more. Now it’s the Oaks Restaurant. The low building next to it has had an upper storey added.
The same brick building now at 2209 Oak Bay Avenue was already there in 1921. It was built in 1913 as apartments above stores, which is how it’s still used. Can you find its name over the door in the middle?
Businesses on Oak Bay Avenue in 1921 included: pharmacy, grocery, bakery, furniture, bank, dry goods (fabrics and clothes), hardware, post office. They are not exactly the same businesses or in the same places, but we do have the same kinds of businesses on the Avenue today. What other kinds of businesses are on Oak Bay Avenue these days?
