$10-million renovation for Victoria’s Government House By Mark Halsall
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ritish Columbia’s capital city has a rich heritage that’s exemplified in the picturesque gardens and historically significant structures found throughout Victoria. One of them is Government House, home to the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia since 1865. The building that stands at 1401 Rockland Avenue in Victoria today, though, is not the original Government House. That one burned down in 1899 and its replacement was also destroyed by fire nearly 60 years later. The current Government House has the original stone ‘porte cochere’ on the front of the building, and the rest of structure is very similar architecturally to previous Government Houses as it was built to resemble its predecessors. Not much has been done to the 60,000-square-foot building since it opened in 1959, which is why it is undergoing $10-million worth of needed renovations. The project is focused primarily on infrastructure upgrades, so the aesthetics of the building, which was designated a National Historic Site in 2002, will remain unchanged. While the grounds and some outlying buildings remain open to the public on the site, Government House itself is closed during construction. Victoriabased Kingsview Construction Ltd. is the general contractor for the project, which started in August 2020 and is expected to wrap up in August 2021.
Opulent chandelier collection stored safely during renovations. 44 Vancouver Island Construction Association
