18 a national historic site in 1980. It occupies the former James Bay mud flats, atop 300,000 tons of fill reinforced with nearly 3,000 50-foot pilings driven into clay, according to Terry Reksten’s history of the hotel. A $65 million makeover of the Empress a decade ago included installing air-conditioning in the guest rooms for the first time. A Many of the more than 80 Maclure- designed houses survive. They include Hatley Castle in Colwood, built for James Dunsmuir, a former B.C. premier and son of coal baron Robert Dunsmuir. The senior Dunsmuir earlier commissioned Craigdarroch Castle, one of Victoria’s most famed edifices. According to Canada’s Historic Places (historic places.ca) other downtown heritage sites include the Green Block in Trounce Alley, designed in 1889 by John Teague; the pink Customs House, 1002 Wharf St., the first federal government building in the city — designed by T.S. Scott in 1874; the original Odd Fellows Hall, 500 Fort St., designed in 1862 by Richard Lewis and expanded three years later; and the former Provincial Courthouse building, 28 Bastion Sq., designed in 1889 by Hermann Otto Tiedemann with a Rattenbury addition a decade later. Other Historic Architects Other architects also left their mark on Victoria, such as John Wright, who came to Victoria from San Francisco during the 1858 Fraser River Gold Rush. In 1861, Wright began a partnership with George Sanders. Their projects included Fisgard Lighthouse and Canada’s oldest synagogue in continuous use, Congregation Emanu-El. A list of their houses “is neither long stunning feature of that renovation is a two-ton crystal chandelier that hovers over the reception lobby. Other notable renovation features are the new Q at the Empress restaurant and bar, a new and expanded Fairmont Gold lounge, a new Royal Suite, and luxury renovations of 464 guest rooms and suites. An earlier renovation in 1988 revealed a stained-glass dome over the Palm Court. In the hotel’s early years, ladies seated for tea on opposite sides of the room could hear each other’s gossip. During Prohibition, residents would secret their liquor under tables or behind menus, although Winston Churchill purportedly received his gin in a tea pot. More recently, the hotel reopened The Bengal, a former cocktail lounge, as a restaurant. Rattenbury's Rival Among Rattenbury’s lesser-known works are the former Brackman-Ker Milling Co. Building, 1420 Broad St., which is currently unoccupied and for sale. Rattenbury also designed a B.C. Electric Railway office at Langley and Fort streets. On the other side of Langley is the Temple Building, a creation of Samuel Maclure, a Rattenbury contemporary best-known for his stately mansions. The rivals even collaborated on occasion. Maclure’s legacy, though, was designing houses, in particular his Tudor Revival-style mansions. ABOVE: Telus Ocean Building, under construction in January, reflects Victoria’s modern architectural sensibilities. (Keith Norbury) BELOW: One of Victoria’s many heritage-designated homes is at 548 Michigan St. (Nick Russell) The Customs House, also known as the Malahat Building, dates from 1874. (Keith Norbury) Visitors gather on the Inner Harbour for a Songhees Tours walking tour. (Songhees Tours)
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