Downtown Victoria

For other uses, see Victoria.

Coordinates: 48°25′35″N 123°21′54″W / 48.42639°N 123.36500°W / 48.42639; -123.36500

Downtown Victoria is a neighbourhood of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada that serves as the city centre and the central business district for the City of Victoria, and the Greater Victoria regions.

Downtown Victoria
Downtown Area
Downtown Victoria looking up Douglas Street.
Country	Canada
Province	British Columbia
Municipality	Victoria
Community	Victoria
Area ^[1]
• Total	8.1 km^2 (3.1 sq mi)
Population  (2016)^[2]
• Total	40,681
• Density	5,000/km^2 (13,000/sq mi)
Canadian Postal code	V
Area code	250

Characteristics

 

The Gate of Harmonious Interest in Chinatown, a neighbourhood situated in Downtown Victoria.

The downtown area is an extremely popular place for tourists and local Victorians as that is where many of the movie theatres, stage theatres, hotels, restaurants, pubs, night clubs, and shops are. Many tourist attractions are located in and around the area including Bastion Square, heart of the 19th-century city's professional district. Centennial Square is next to Victoria City Hall; it is used for small venue events such as the Electronic Music Festival, which takes place during the same time period as the BC Day statutory holiday and Symphony Splash. Market Square, towards the northwest end of downtown, is used for small venue concerts and festivals, containing shopping establishments and eateries and is part of the city's "Old Town". Just beyond Market Square and Old Town which is the cultural and historic Chinatown which forms part of the northern end of downtown Victoria. It has a colourful Chinese historical past from the early days of Victoria.

Downtown Victoria contains most of Greater Victoria's and the Capital Regional District's urban high rise office towers.

The Bay Centre shopping mall is located in the middle of downtown. Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre, located on the site of the former Victoria Memorial Arena, is the largest sports-entertainment multiplex on Vancouver Island and the second largest in British Columbia outside of the Greater Vancouver area.^{[citation needed]}

Attractions

Places of Interest

 

The Inner Harbour and The Empress Hotel (centre background), two major attractions in Downtown.

• Bastion Square
• Beacon Hill Park
• Bug Zoo
• British Columbia Parliament Buildings
• Chinatown
• Christ Church Cathedral
• The Fairmont Empress Hotel
• Fan Tan Alley
• Government Street
• Johnson Street Bridge
• Market Square
• Miniature World
• Inner Harbor
• Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre
• Victoria Conference Centre

Events

• Victoria Film Festival
• Rifflandia Music Festival
• Victoria Ska Fest
• Symphony Splash

Major skyscrapers and buildings

 

The skyline of Downtown Victoria at night.

This list ranks notable highrises in downtown Victoria that stand at least 50 metres (164 ft) tall, based on CTBUH height measurement standards. This includes spires and architectural details but does not include antenna masts.

Rank	Building	Image	Height m (ft)	Floors	Year	Notes	Ref
1	Hudson Place One (Residential)		85.03 m (279.0 ft)	25	2020	Tallest building in Victoria and Vancouver Island as of 2020.	^[3]^[4]
2	Hudson Place Two (Residential)		71.73 m (235.3 ft)	23	2022	^[5]
3	Promontory (Residential)		66.45 m (218.0 ft)	21	2014	Tallest building in Victoria from 2014 to 2019.	^[6]^[7]
4	Orchard House (Residential)		61.9 m (203 ft)	22	1969	Tallest building in Victoria from 1969 to 2014.	^[8]^[9]
5	Astoria (Residential)		61 m (200 ft)	20	2006		^[10]
6	Roberts House (Residential)		59 m (194 ft)	21	1973		^[11]
7	Sussex Place (Office)		58.4 m (192 ft)	11	1995		^[12]
8	DoubleTree by Hilton (Hotel)		58 m (190 ft)	19	1965	Tallest building in Victoria. from 1965 to 1969. Formerly called the Executive House Hotel.	^[13]
9	View Towers (Residential)		57 m (187 ft)	19	1968		^[14]
10	North Park Manor (Residential)		57 m (187 ft)	16	1975		^[15]
11=	Encore (Residential)		56 m (184 ft)	17	2018		^[16]
11=	Fannin Building (Museum)		56 m (184 ft)	13	1967		^[17]
13=	989 Johnson		54 m (177 ft)	17	2019		^[18]^[19]
13=	The Falls (Residential)		54 m (177 ft)	18	2009		^[20]
13=	The Manhattan (Residential)		54 m (177 ft)	15	1995		^[21]
13=	Regents Park East (Residential)		54 m (177 ft)	18	1991		^[22]
17	Legato (Residential)		52.2 m (171 ft)	17	2018		^[23]
18=	Bank of Commerce Tower (Office)		50 m (160 ft)	12	1969		^[24]
18=	Chateau Victoria Hotel (Mixed use)		50 m (160 ft)	18	1990		^[25]

See also

• Rogers Building (Victoria, British Columbia)

References

1. "Defining Canada's Downtown Neighbourhoods: 2016 Boundaries" (PDF). www150.statcan.gc.ca. Statistics Canada. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
2. "Defining Canada's Downtown Neighbourhoods: 2016 Boundaries" (PDF). www150.statcan.gc.ca. Statistics Canada. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
3. "Hudson Place One, Victoria - Citified.ca". victoria.citified.ca. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
4. "At 22 of its 25-storeys, Hudson Place One condo tower stands as Victoria's tallest building - Citified.ca". victoria.citified.ca. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
5. "Hudson Place Two, Victoria - Citified.ca". victoria.citified.ca. Retrieved September 25, 2022.
6. "Promontory, Victoria - SkyscraperPage.com". skyscraperpage.com. Retrieved 2019-10-09.
7. "Promontory". Citified. Retrieved October 6, 2018.
8. "Orchard House, Victoria - SkyscraperPage.com". skyscraperpage.com. Retrieved 2019-10-09.
9. "Orchard House". SkyscraperPage.com. Retrieved June 2, 2012.
10. "Astoria". SkyscraperPage.com. Retrieved June 2, 2012.
11. "Roberts House". SkyscraperPage.com. Retrieved June 2, 2012.
12. "Sussex Place". Emporis.com. Retrieved April 29, 2016.
13. "Executive House Hotel". SkyscraperPage.com. Retrieved June 2, 2012.
14. "View Towers". SkyscraperPage.com. Retrieved June 2, 2012.
15. "North Park Manor". SkyscraperPage.com. Retrieved June 2, 2012.
16. "Encore". SkyscraperPage.com. Retrieved October 6, 2018.
17. "Fanin Building". SkyscraperPage.com. Retrieved June 2, 2012.
18. "989 Johnson Tower [1], Victoria - SkyscraperPage.com". skyscraperpage.com. Retrieved 2019-12-31.
19. "989 Johnson". Citified. Retrieved October 6, 2018.
20. "The Falls". SkyscraperPage.com. Retrieved June 2, 2012.
21. "The Manhattan". SkyscraperPage.com. Retrieved June 2, 2012.
22. "Regents Park East". SkyscraperPage.com. Retrieved June 2, 2012.
23. "Legato". Citified. Retrieved October 6, 2018.
24. "Bank of Commerce Tower". SkyscraperPage.com. Retrieved June 2, 2012.
25. "Chateau Victoria Hotel". SkyscraperPage.com. Retrieved June 2, 2012.

External links

• Downtown Victoria Business Association
• Victoria Buzz
• Tourism Victoria