Old Victoria Supreme Courthouse

Maritime Museum of British Columbia for 49 years. On on October 21, 2014 the museum closed it's doors permanently in preparation to move to a new location leaving the old courthouse with a unknown future. This page has also been created in tribute to this National Historic Site but also to raise interest in the public to ensure its protection. The description below gives a little background on the old courthouse. Description excerpted from BastionSquare.ca
"In 1887, the Chief Commission of Lands and Works authorized the er****on of a new Court House, a brick building on a stone foundation on the site of the old police barracks and jail. Tiedemann’s design was supposedly based on a court building in the architect’s native city of Munich. Local tradition has it that this was the first building in Victoria to make extensive use of reinforced concrete. The brick facing was stuccoed and rendered to resemble the grouting of huge granite blocks. The building was competed in 1889 at a total cost of $35,075. In its day the Court House presented an impressive spectacle, towering over other buildings in the immediate area and looking out over the harbour. The elevator remains a high point of the interior and is the oldest lift in B.C. During the 1900-1901 remodeling, many of the windows were filled in, the main arches of the east portico were converted into windows and the interior space was redefined as an office. The Court House’s last hearing was held in February, 1962, just before the courts moved to the new buildings on Courtenay Street. During 1963-1964, the old Court House served as a temporary City Hall. In 1965, the Maritime Museum was relocated there."