By the late 1880s Victoria had enjoyed more than 40 years as the preeminent British, and then Canadian city on the west coast. It was older, though perhaps not by much, than any other center, and had fought off all challenges to stand as the permanent capital of British Columbia.

Victoria was also a significant player in west coast trade and industry, holding its own against its well established American rivals San Francisco and Seattle. The Victoria Albion Iron Works was the second largest foundry on the Pacific Coast. William Pendray owned a soap factory in James Bay, and the Loewen and Erb brewery produced 120,000 galleons of beer every year. There were also a number of other industries operating competitively in the city: cigar makers, carriage and wagon builders, shoes makers, various mills, book binders, meat packers, a vinegar factory, and a corset factory among others. All of this industry was supported by vigorous coastal shipping, which carried goods and people all up and down the Pacific Coast, and for which Victoria was the main Canadian destination. In the early months of the 1890's The National Electric Tramway and Light Co. began to operate the first electric tramway in British Columbia, only the third in Canada, with 9 kilometers of track through the center of Victoria.

Yet despite the energy and bustle, even in the mid-1880s, there were already dark clouds on the horizon. The unassuming settlement of Granville, informally known as Gastown, at the mouth of the Fraser River was chosen as the Pacific terminus for the transcontinental railway. This honour had previously been promised to Victoria, and it is likely that the decision was unduly influenced by speculators holding undervalued Lower Mainland plots. Still it is hard to imagine Victoria retaining its position as a trade and manufacturing hub when its mainland competitors could offer much easier, and cheaper, access to continental markets.

By 1891 Gastown had grown into the City of Vancouver and according to the census of that year its population was more or less equal to Victoria's. Even the prestige of Victoria's fancy new tramway did not last long as Vancouver opened its own system just four months after Victoria's trams began their runs. Vancouver was headed towards its current role as a world-class metropolis, while Victoria turned the corner and slipped into a sleepy, yet dignified, obscurity.

Victoria began to be known for its gardens and gentile high society rather than for its trade and industry. Rudyard Kipling summed the city up in a single sentence after his visit in the early 1890s: "I found in that quiet English town of beautiful streets quite a colony of old men doing nothing but talking, fishing, and loafing at the club." (Rudyard Kipling, From Sea to Sea and Other Sketches, 1899). It was starting to become apparent that Victoria's future would rest on two pillars, providing service to the old men and women who came to do nothing, and the patronage of the government combined with the spending power of the relatively well-paid civil servants.

But in the early 1890s the government by its outward appearance didn't inspire confidence as a replacement to the bustling trade and industry of the past. After 39 years it became apparent that the Bird Cages were becoming even more of an embarrassment. Clerks in the Colonial Secratary's Office claimed the walls were so thin that they could see through to the other side. In the winter of 1893 the legislature was adjourned for a week because the chamber could not be made warm enough for the legislators to do their work.

It was finally decided that a new and more dignified capital was required for the ambitious and growing province. Further, it would provide an opportunity to stimulate the local economy. In 1892 an international competition was opened for architects to submit plans for the construction of a new legislature. To ensure fairness entries were to be anonymous. Sixty-five architects entered plans under pseudonyms such as 'Hopeful', 'Patience', 'Utility and Dignity', and 'Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay'. One recent immigrant from Leeds, England, signed his entry simply 'BC Architect.' Well not strictly untrue, it was not entirely honest either. But it was not the first, last or the greatest fib in the flamboyant career of this soon to be famous young man.

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Was Kipling right? Is Victoria 'a colony of old men doing nothing but talking, fishing, and loafing at the club'?
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Further Reading:
The Legislature has an interesting interactive website about the history of the legislature. Click here to Visit

Robin Ward, Echoes of Empire: Victoria and its Remarkable Buildings, Maidera Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 1996.

Martin Segger and Douglas Franklin, Exploring Victoria's Architecture, Victoria: Sono Nis Press, 1996.

Terry Reksten, Rattenbury, Victoria: Sono Nis Press, 1978, 1998.