Richmond Road Streetcar Shelter

The Richmond Road Streetcar Shelter is a modest utilitarian wooden passenger shelter with a rectangular plan and hipped roof, located on the edge of the Camosun College grounds. It faces Richmond Avenue, just above the junction with Lansdowne Road in the Shelbourne area of Saanich.

The heritage value of Richmond Road Streetcar Shelter is associated with the growth and development of its neighbourhood context. Shelbourne is bounded on the east and south by Oak Bay and Victoria, with Mount Tolmie as the major landmark on the east. The area was first developed as farms, which were gradually subdivided for residential and commercial use. The neighbourhood is also home to several large institutional complexes such as Camosun College and St. Michael's University School. Transit services enabled the wide-spread growth in the area.

The heritage value of the Streetcar Shelter is as one of the last two remaining streetcar shelters in Victoria, the third Canadian city to have streetcars. The Victoria and district streetcar system was inaugurated by the National Electric Tramway and Lighting Company in 1890. The system was later bought in 1897 by the British Columbia Electric Railway (BCER) Company Limited, who operated it until 1948, when streetcars made their last runs. This shelter was constructed to service the Number 10 Streetcar, which made two trips a day to service the University School and then the Provincial Normal School.

The station is significant as representative of small purpose-built streetcar shelters across Canada. The large hipped roof sheltered waiting passengers. It is the landing and egress for steps from street level up to the shelter, and a long flight of steps up behind the shelter to the main level of the landscaped grounds of Camosun College. It is a good example of picturesque Arts and Crafts landscaping integrated with a functional structure.

Source: Heritage Planning Files, District of Saanich

Key elements that define the heritage character of the Richmond Road Streetcar Shelter include its:

- location on Richmond Road

- form, scale and massing

- picturesque hipped roof with cedar shingle cladding and wooden gutters

- heavy timber posts and brackets supporting the roof

- a low wall enclosing each end

- conjunction with old concrete steps down to street level and up to higher ground level