2010 OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

'This Old House:

Victoria's Heritage Neighbourhoods'

The Victoria Heritage Foundation

“This Old House” is a project that spanned many years and involved literally thousands of hours of volunteer and staff time to complete.  Published in four volumes, it is a pictorial and historical inventory of Victoria’s designated and registered heritage houses.  First published as a single volume in 1979, the updated version was just too big to fit between a single pair of covers.   The four-volume set takes you through all of Victoria’s historic neighbourhoods.

Newly and thoroughly researched, completely rewritten and updated, each volume includes:  

• Architectural analysis and social history of every structure
• New photos of each property and hundreds of archival images
• Two indexes, one by address and one by name
• A chronology of events that have affected the development of the City and its neighbourhoods
• Maps locating the heritage resources
• A guide to local residential styles
• A glossary of architectural terms, and
• A bibliography of research sources

By including a wealth of social history, detailed architectural descriptions, details and plan elevations, and many images –new and archival - the books appeal to a wide audience, and have greatly increased local knowledge about the City’s Heritage Program.

This Old House set out to document all the registered houses in the residential neighbourhoods. In the process it has chronicled the growth, development and diversity that make these areas so pleasing. The series has made the concept of “heritage” much more accessible.

As Pamela Madoff, City of Victoria Councillor and heritage house owner, says: “The depth of research and breadth of subject matter contained in the volumes of This Old House are without precedent in the publishing history of Victoria. They are impeccably researched and provide a wealth of architectural information and social history that even the most casual of readers will find addictive. This is a truly epic achievement that could only have come to fruition through the incredible dedication of the volunteers and staff who were determined to see the project through to the end - over a period of many years.”