Church of Our Lord National Historic Site (Victoria, British Columbia)

Posted on by — Leave a reply
Church of Our Lord National Historic Site

From the Royal British Columbia Museum, it was just a 300-m. (5-min.) walk to the historic, beautifully restored Church of Our Lord National Historic Site. We arrived before 2 PM (the church’s closing time) but the church was already locked. The oldest church in Victoria, it is part of the Reformed Episcopal Church and is on the City of Victoria Heritage Building Registry.

The Carpenter Gothic facade

Here’s the historical timeline of the church:

  • On October 29, 1874, the congregation of the Church of Our Lord was created by the Rev. (later Bishop) Edward Cridge and his followers (which included many of Victoria’s pioneer families) following a notable Anglican schism, marking the establishment of the Reformed Episcopal Church in Canada. Reverend Cridge challenged the authority of George Hills, the Anglican Bishop of British Columbia, in an ecclesiastical court. The court decided against Rev. Cridge and Bishop Hills prohibited Rev. Cridge from celebrating Divine Service at Christ Church Cathedral.
  • In 1875, the construction of the church began.
  • In January 16, 1876, the church was opened and the first service was held here.
  • In 1929, the adjacent Cridge Memorial Hall was built.
  • In 1979, it was recognized on the Canadian Register of Historic Places
  • In June 1990, the church, Cridge Memorial Hall and the church grounds were recognized as a National Historic Site of Canada for being the finest wooden expression of Gothic Revival (Carpenter’s Gothic) architecture on the country’s West Coast.
  • In 2004, it was listed on the Canadian Register of Historic Places.
  • In 2009, it became a member of the Anglican Church in North America, upon its creation. That same year, it was listed as a National Historic Site of Canada
  • In 2012, it merged with a local congregation of the Anglican Network in Canada and moved to the jurisdiction of that diocese (now renamed the Anglican Diocese of Canada).
  • In April 2025, on its 150th year anniversary, the church completed a major $230,000 restoration of its signature 25-ft. high replica steeple and historic cast-iron bell, re-raising the spire back onto the belfry.

Check out “Christ Church Cathedral”

Canadian Register of Historic Places plaque
City of Victoria Heritage Building Registry plaque

Local architect John Teague designed the 104-ft. high, 56-ft. wide and 38-ft. high church in the Carpenter Gothic style (used for churches across North America, it is an excellent example of the adaptation of the classic Gothic architectural style to suit local building materials), featuring simplistic vertical lines, spatial configurations, pointed-arch windows, leaded and stained-glass windows, decorative elements, authentic woodwork and paneling, steep gable roof, vertical buttress piers, bell tower, rose window, California redwood board-and-batten siding and an interior hammer beam truss system.

Rear and side of the church

Located on property donated by James Douglas, this freestanding building is one of the few remaining wooden structures of this style and era intact in British Columbia.  The Cridge Memorial Hall, designed by notable architects Samuel Maclure and Hubert Savage, replaced an original Sunday School annex.

Crigg Memorial Hall

Church of Our Lord National Historic Site: 626 Blanshard St. cor. Humboldt St., Victoria, British Columbia V8W 3G6. Tel: 250-383-8915. Website: www.ourlord.ca. Coordinates: 48.420°N 123.364°W.

Fan Tan Alley (Victoria, British Columbia)

Posted on by — Leave a reply
Fan Tan Alley

The highlight of our exploration of Victoria’s Chinatown (the oldest in Canada) was Fan Tan Alley, North America’s narrowest commercial street and the only one in North America to retain its original 19th century streetscape,  Running 72 m. (238 ft. or 0.45 mi.) south, from Fisgard Street to Pandora Avenue, at the block between Government Street and Store Street, it measures just under 0.9 m. (3 ft.) wide at its narrowest and tightest point.

The alley, with its narrow, tight brick corridors where pedestrians often need to yield to pass one another, was established in 1858 during the gold rush in Canada’s oldest Chinatown.  It originally housed legal and illegal (it was made illegal in 1908) opium factories, secret gambling dens (with hidden escape doors, and watchmen to warn against police), and maze-like escape routes for the Chinese gambling game Fan-Tan during the 1910s (after whom it was named).

Turtle Express Designs

The surrounding brick buildings (such as 10-14 Fan Tan Alley), featuring 2-storey vernacular red brick designs, wooden storefronts and upper floor tenements, were designed by Charles Edward Watkins and built around 1912.  In the 1950s and 1960s, police raids on the illegal gambling clubs (such as the Big Club in the mid-20th century) and declining visitors led to the closure of the gambling clubs. Fan Tan Alley fell into disrepair and buildings were condemned at the time.

During the 1970s and 1980s, it was later cleaned up, transformed and revitalized under urban planner David Chuenyan Lai and, in 2001, was designated as a municipal heritage property. In 2006, material salvaged from the alley’s original gate was donated to the Six String Nation project.  It now serves as kerfing on a guitar located there. Faded graffiti, still etched on the mortar, speaks of long-ago customers, waiting to participate in the shadow economies of opium dealing, gambling and prostitution.  

Turntable

Today, it is decorated with hanging red lanterns (which reminds you that this was once a red light district) and string lights overhead and lined with an art gallery, restaurants, apartments, offices, quirky clothing shops, modern coffee shops and the Victoria Chinatown Museum (closed during our visit) at the  Hoy Sun Ning Yung Benevolent Association Building.

Victoria Chinatown Museum
Hoy Sun Ning Yung Benevolent Association Building

It is also home to small, unique local businesses such as Saltspring Soapworks (handcrafted soap and body products), the whimsical, one-of-a-kind Umbrellatorium (umbrellas, including drip-free inverted photography umbrellas, handcrafted walking canes, shoehorns, etc.), Turntable (a record store), and Triple Spiral (books, jewelry, incense, crystals, candles, tarot, etc.), making it a fun place to explore. In the movie Bird on a Wire (1990), Mel Gibson rides a motorcycle down the alley.

Saltwater Soapworks

Fan Tan Alley: Chinatown, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Coordinates: 48.4290°N 123.3679°W.

How to Get There: The alley is easily reachable on foot from downtown or the Inner Harbour.

St. Andrew’s Cathedral (Victoria, British Columbia)

Posted on by — Leave a reply
St. Andrew’s Cathedral

From Christ Church Cathedral, we walked about 500 m. to the stunning St. Andrew’s Cathedral. Just like Christ Church Cathedral, it was still open (it closes at 6 PM). A Roman Catholic cathedral for the Diocese of Victoria, was  Victoria’s third cathedral to be built and the third building to be used by the parish. The first building, used from 1858 to 1884, is presently used as the Chapel of St. Ann’s Academy on Humboldt Street. The second building, situated behind the current building now occupied by the St. Andrew’s Square office building, was used from 1884 to 1892, after which the parish moved into the present cathedral.  It is still the largest church in Victoria in terms of floor space.

Check out “Christ Church Cathedral“

The High Victorian Gothic-style facade

Here’s the historical timeline of the present cathedral:

The present High Victorian Gothic-style (one of the few purely Gothic structures of its class on the West Coast) cathedral, designed by architects Maurice Perrault and Albert Mesnard of Montreal, was built with red brick walls, pale gray stone trim and slate roof, by contractor J.H. Donovan, at a total cost of C$81,052. Borrowing much from the medieval architecture of European churches of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, Perrault and Mesnard based their plans from a church built in Vaudreuil-Dorion, Quebec.

The soaring main tower

The cathedral’s complex cruciform plan includes the narthex, the 22-m. (72-ft.) long nave (with its prominent rose window), transepts, polygonal apse, two galleries above the narthex, and the complementary but not identical double asymmetrical front towers. Typical of Quebec churches and a characteristic of the High Victorian Gothic style, the towers were an attempt to follow the “unfinished” look that made fourteenth and fifteenth century churches popular. The main tower boasts a soaring, 53.4 m. (175-ft.) high spire designed to hold a clock and a set of bells.

The cathedral interior

Its key High Victorian Gothic Revival architectural elements include its emphatic verticality and picturesque asymmetry marked, in particular, by its tall spire; ornate vaulting; its brick and stonework; eclectic embellishments such as finials, crockets, latticework, and its stained-glass windows.

Its French Gothic-inspired detailing includes triple entrance portals; corner piers and wall buttresses; decorated parapets; the rose window above the main entrance; polished granite columns and wall surrounds on the main entrance; rose windows on both transept end walls; and trefoil windows on the walls of the nave and apse.  The rich and varied surface design of High Victorian taste is evident in the use of polychrome in the slate roofing; detailing of red brick wall surfaces with limestone; the use of polished granite details; the diaper-work panels on the front façade; and ornate metal eaves and roof ornamentation.

The vaulted ceiling

The original church interior still retains much of its design, including the spatial configurations of the sanctuary with its arches, pillars, ornamental vaulted ceilings, decorative traceries; stained and colored glass windows, decorative plaster detailing, columns and galleries and much of its original wooden furnishings such as pews.

The main altar

St. Andrew’s Cathedral houses 21 large Portland-style, intricate stained-glass windows and two large rose windows with a smaller one above the gallery, all depicting Biblical scenes and saints and documented by the Institute for Stained Glass in Canada.

Some of the 21 stained-glass windows

The hand-carved altar, commissioned for use on the 25th anniversary of Bishop Remi Joseph De Roo‘s episcopal ordination, was carved by Charles W. Elliott, the first Native American to graduate from St. Louis College. It consists of two bentwood boxes that can be rotated to show four separate designs for the different liturgical seasons. The top of the altar, weighing approximately 180 kgs. (400 lbs.), was carved from yellow cedar (Nootka Cypress).

A stained-glas window between two Stations of the Cross

The cathedral’s carved lectern, by artist Roy Henry Vickers, depicts a black and red image of Christ, representing the crucified Christ and the risen Christ.  The cathedral also houses a crypt, where three of Victoria‘s former Bishops are interred – Bishop Modeste Demers (the first Bishop of Victoria), Charles John Seghers (the second and fourth Bishop, murdered in Alaska) and Rt. Rev. John J. Jonckau (a former Vicar General of the Diocese of Victoria who was named as Bishop but died before being consecrated).

The cathedral’s pipe organ

St. Andrew’s Cathedral: 740 View St. cor. Blanshard St., Victoria, British Columbia V8W 1J8. Tel: (250) 388-5571. E-mail: standrewscathedral@gmail.com. Website:
www.standrewscathedral.com.  Coordinates: 48.425417°N 123.362861°W.

How to Get There: The cathedral can be reached by combining a BC Ferries vehicle ferry Horseshoe Bay (West Vancouver) to Nanaimo (Departure Bay) or Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay (Victoria), and highway driving from the mainland or, if you are already in downtown Victoria, by walking or by local BC transit buses stopping along Douglas Street or Yates/Fort Street corridors that place you just a short 2- to 3-block walk away from the cathedral.

Christ Church Cathedral (Victoria, British Columbia)

Posted on by — 2 Comments ↓
Christ Church Cathedral

After touring Hatley Castle, Hatley Park and the Grant Building at Royal Roads University, we next drove 14.8 kms. (a 30 mins.) to Victoria city proper, parked our car and walked towards the Gothic Revival-style Christ Church Cathedral, the cathedral church of the Diocese of British Columbia (created on January 12, 1859) of the Anglican Church of Canada. We were lucky as the cathedral was still open (it closes at 5:30 PM).

Check out “Hatley Castle“

The Gothic-Revival facade

Here’s the historical timeline of the cathedral:

  • In 1856, a small, purpose-built colonial wooden church was built on Church Hill.
  • In 1862, an apse and south aisle were added to it.  Through the generosity of Baroness Angela Burdett-Coutts, a wealthy resident of faraway London, England, a keyboard instrument was also installed.
  • In 1865, a north aisle was added.
  • On December 7, 1865, George Hills consecrated Christ Church Cathedral and appointed Edward Cridge as its first dean.
  • On the night of September 30, 1869, the cathedral burned to the ground. The communion vessels and organ were rescued and the vestry books survived. While they rebuilt, the parish used a vacant Presbyterian church for several years.
  • On May 20, 1872, the cornerstone for the new wooden building was laid on by Lt.-Gov. Joseph Trutch. It was to be another structure as conditions were not ripe for a stone building. It was about 30-m. (100-ft.) by 15 m. (50-ft.) with a 24 m. (78 ft.) high tower. Construction took a little over six months.
  • On December 5, 1872, the new cathedral was consecrated.
  • In 1891, an international design competition for a larger and more enduring edifice was held.
  • In January 1893, Scottish-born Victoria architect John Charles Malcolm Keith was announced as the winner. He designed a 13th century Gothic style building with a 63-m. high central tower inspired by English Gothic cathedrals of Durham from in England and Grace Episcopal Cathedral in San Francisco.  It was to be built half a block away on the north-east corner of the former Church Hill (by now renamed Burdett Avenue) and Quadra Street and standing beside Victoria’s first official cemetery, the Old Burying Ground (today’s Pioneer Square). However, the building fund was not adequate to begin construction.
  • In 1919, a new Cathedral Buildings Campaign for $250,000 was authorized by Charles Schofield, elected bishop in 1916.
  • In 1920, Keith altered his original design to include two west towers and a central lantern tower, but the latter was never built.
  • On October 1, 1923, the cornerstone of the Memorial Hall, to be built by Parfitt Brothers Construction, was laid by Charles Schofield.
  • On May 20, 1926, a service for breaking ground on the new cathedral took place. Fortunately, Mr. Keith was still available to supervise the project.
  • On September 9, 1926, the cornerstone was laid by Arthur Winnington-Ingram, the Bishop of London.
  • On September 9, 1929, the visiting Winston Churchill laid a commemorative stone for the north tower.
  • On September 29, 1929, the majestic nave was officially consecrated.
  • In 1933, thanks to an anonymous donation of £5000, a contract was let to continue the northwest tower as far as the bell chamber floor.
  • In 1936, through the generosity of two donors, Mrs. Mozley and Mrs. Matson, a peal of eight bells for change ringing, made by Mears & Stainbank of Whitechapel, London and shipped via the Panama Canal, was purchased and installed atop the 40-m. high northwest tower. They are of the same design as the peal at Westminster Abbey. Yarrows Shipyard of Victoria, under the direction of Edward W. Izard, hoisted the eight tons of steel girders and seven and a half tons of bells 70 ft. onto the tower and installed it in just six working days. To protect them from the elements, a wooden shed was built over the bells as the tower was incomplete.
  • On July 12, 1936, the bells were first rung.
  • In 1952, the installation of concrete and stone facings on the western towers and arch over the cathedral’s rose window was completed.
  • In 1952, a columbarium was constructed under the nave.
  • In 1957, the southwest tower and the arch over the rose window were completed in concrete with stone facing. To reduce costs, the 20-ft. lantern band at the top of each tower was omitted. Skilled stone cutters were in short supply, so workers from Europe were brought to the quarry on Texada Island, where they produced and shipped finished stones.
  • In 1958, a proposal to rebuild the main organ for $40,000 was approved.
  • In 1975, Fairbridge Farms Society offered their Harrison and Harrison organ, which was installed in the west gallery. The small Bevington organ which had been there was moved to the main floor and put on casters.
  • In 1980, a decision was taken to rebuild the main organ yet again, and to relocate it to an engineered shelf over the west gallery. The Harrison and Harrison organ was moved from the gallery to where the main organ had been.
  • On June 24, 1982, the cathedral was registered in the Canadian Register of Historic Places.
  • On March 8, 1983, in the presence of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, two smaller bells were dedicated before being hung in the tower adding to the peal of eight. The Treble is dedicated to the memory of Mr. Edward W. Izard, who led the ringing in the tower for nearly forty years, and the Second to Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, the Queen’s grandson.
  • In 1985, completion of the design with central tower was abandoned, and a design for a worthy completion in the spirit of the original was adopted, a stone-clad addition containing a chapel, vestries, chapter room, and wash rooms. It was expected that the addition might exist with simple sheet metal cladding for many years before stone cladding could be afforded, but several unexpected large bequests came along, which allowed the project to be completed immediately, and removed all construction debt. The exterior was, however, finished not on stone, but in concrete masonry and EIFS, an ideal substrate for nest cavity construction.  The concrete and EIFS wall replaced a temporary wooden wall in the late 20th century.
  • In 1988, the large hexagonal corona lighting fixture suspended over the altar was removed.
  • In 1991, the Chapel of the New Jerusalem was added
  • In 1994, the columbarium was enlarged.
  • In 1997, bonding and ballasting of the brick vaulting was undertaken as a seismic upgrade. It was to have been parged when constructed, but this was done only on the aisle vaulting.
  • In 2000, a contract for a new four-manual mechanical action pipe organ was signed with Hellmuth Wolff & Associés of Laval QC.
  • In 2002, site preparation for the new organ began with removal of the old organ and the shelf on which it stood. It had been thought at the time of signing that the project would have to proceed in several phases due to fund-raising constraints, but by the time that site preparation had begun, pledges for the whole amount were in hand, so the contract was re-negotiated as a single project. This entailed rescheduling to 2004, as the builder had since signed other contracts which he had to fulfil first.
  • In September 2005, the pipe organ, named as the Helmut Wolff & Associés Opus 47, was completed.
  • On February 4, 2010, the cathedral was listed in the Canadian Register of Historic Places.
  • In June 2019, the Cathedral became a partner in the Community of Cross of Nails (CCN) founded by Coventry Cathedral after the destruction of it and the city by bombing in the Second World War. In Christ Church, the former baptistry was re-dedicated as the Chapel of Reconciliation and Cross of Nails by John Witcombe, Dean of Coventry, who presented the Cathedral with a Cross of Nails which was mounted on the wall below the carved words “Creator Forgive.”   An explanatory marble plaque was also mounted on the wall.
  • In the summer of 2026, the pipe organ underwent its first major 20-year overhaul (costing $150,000 and guided by Juget-Sinclair).
  • In August 2026, the pipe organ was completed with a fall rededication series.
Flying buttresses supporting the sides of the cathedral

Its monumental Gothic Revival architectural design features flying buttresses; pointed-arch window frames; twin, square bell towers on the west end; main entrance with rose window; stone steps; outdoor pulpit on south side; clerestory windows and stained-glass windows. Along the eave line are religious text.

One of the twin square bell towers

The cathedral was built using regional resources such as native sandstone from Newcastle Island, granite from Nelson Island for foundations and steps, slates from Jervis Inlet for the roof, and local timber for interior finishing. The tracery windows were formed from camus (cast) stone.

The cathedral’s interior

Inside is free-standing altar, on a raised platform with the choir behind and fronted by a semi-circular altar rail. The former high altar, brought from the second cathedral, is now in the Lady Chapel. Attached to the rear of the building is portable classroom used as choir practice room and vestry.

The former high altar now at the Lady Chapel. Behind is the Chapel of the New Jerusalem

The notable pulpit was crafted from a single piece of English oak that was roughly 500 years old when it was felled. The Lady Chapel now serves as an intimate space for regular worship services.

The notable pulpit

The 67-stop (or 61-play/86-rank) Hellmuth Wolff & Associés Opus 47 pipe organ, a mechanical action instrument serving as the primary teaching instrument for the University of Victoria organ program and the Victoria Organ Studio, alongside daily worship and concert series, features four manuals, a pedalboard, mechanical action, and roughly 4,000 to 4,300 pipes. It is the largest instrument ever built by the firm.

The Helmut Wolff & Associates Opus 47 Pipe Organ

The Bevington & Sons Organ (1856) and Harrison & Harrison Organ (1927) are now on the main floor.

The Bevington & Sons Organ (1856)
The Harrison & Harrison Organ (1927)

The cathedral also features an extensive collection of historic stained-glass windows set within its Gothic Revival-style stone architecture.  The east window was designed by William Wailes, while the west window was designed by William Warrington.  

Some of the cathedral’s stained-glass windows

The New Jerusalem Windows, featuring the 7-m. high New Jerusalem design, were created by British-trained artist Christopher Wallis (who moved to Canada in 1957 and produced over 800 windows).

Christ Church Cathedral:  930 Burdett Ave., Victoria, British Columbia V8V 3G8. Tel: (250) 383-2714. Website: www.christchurchcathedral.bc.ca/.   Open to visitors from 8.30 AM – 5.30 PM on weekdays, 10 AM – 4 PM on Saturdays, and
7.30 AM – 5 PM on Sundays. Coordinates: 48°25′20″N 123°21′33″W.

Hatley Castle (Victoria, British Columbia)

Posted on by — Leave a reply
Hatley Castle

Upon arrival at Swartz Bay Ferry Terminal, from Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal, we drove the 36.1-km. (40-min.) distance straight to Hatley Castle. Almost theatrical to be real, its stone walls (which create age even when the story takes place elsewhere), central turret (which suggests authority, wealth and permanence) and formal gardens (which suits fantasy, allows dramatic arrivals and reveals the mansion slowly) seem to belong to another country. Changing character with surprising ease, the Castle can become welcoming, romantic and elegant in broad daylight while dark skies can give the walks a secretive presence.

We felt we may have seen it before as, on screen, it became famous for the X-Men film series having been featured in two series of related media as Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters (actually a school for young, fear and misunderstood mutants), starting from 2003’s X2: X-Men United and including X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) as well as Deadpool (2016) and Deadpool 2. Elements of Hatley Castle’s exterior influenced the new versions of Xavier’s school in X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: Apocalypse, and Dark Phoenix. In Generation X, a 1996 Marvel TV film, marked the first time Hatley Castle  appeared as the X-Mansion.

The terrace

Hatley Castle was also a scene for fairy tale royalty in the Disney movies Descendants (2015), Descendants 2 (2017), Descendants 3 (2019), Descendants: The Rise of Red (2024) and Descendants: Wicked Wonderland (2026) as Auradon Prep, the school for the children of Disney fairy tale characters.

For over 40 years, Hatley Castle, one of British Columbia’s recognizable filming locations, has also been the venue for dozens of other iconic Hollywood films and TV shows, playing a school, a private mansion, a royal academy, a swanky hotel or a menacing house.  They include:

  • The Changeling (1979) – the dramatic ending scenes were filmed inside Hatley Castle which served as a mansion of a powerful senator.
  • MacGyver TV series (1985) – in the second episode of season 5 (“The Legend of the Holy Rose, part 2”), the castle was used as the English home for the episode’s villain.
  • Knight Moves – in the 1992 film, the exterior was portrayed as a swanky luxury hotel.
  • Poltergeist: The Legacy – in this 1996 TV series, Hatley Castle was the headquarters of the Luna Foundation, a group of paranormal investigators.
  • Masterminds (1997) – castle was used as Shady Glen School, supposedly an elite private elementary school in California, taken over by an evil spy (again played by Patrick Stewart of X-Men fame) who takes the students hostage.
  • Seven Days (1999) – in episode 9 of season 2 (“Love and Other Disasters”) of the TV series, the castle is used as a home for a royal family and a place for a royal wedding.
  • The Duke (1999) – the castle is the house of Hubert, dog protagonist.
  • Smallville TV series (2001) – Hatley Castle is shown in the as Luthor Mansion, the estate belonging to the brilliant but complicated Lex Luthor (played by Michael Rosenbaum).
  • The Mole (2001) – in this reality TV series, it is specifically featured in a jewelry heist sequence.
  • Cypher (2002) – served as a backdrop for the movie’s sleek, mysterious settings
  • The Dead Zone TV series (2002-2007).
  • Fierce People (2004) – used as the stately home of the rich family clan of Ogden C. Osborne, many scenes of were filmed in the interior and exterior of Hatley Castle.
  • The Clearing (2004) – starring Robert Redford, Helen Mirren and Willem Dafoe
  • The Reality of Love (2004) – starring Jason Priestly and Bradley Cooper.
  • In the Land of Women (2007) – starring Adam Brody and Kristen Stewart
  • The Boy Who Cried Werewolf (2010) – in this Nickelodeon movie, it served as a fictional, ancient Romanian castle inherited by the family.
  • The Killing TV series (2011) – shown as St. George’s military academy.
  • Big Time Movie – based on the TV series Big Time Rush, some parts of the property were filmed for its 2011 release.
  • Arrow TV series (2012) – shown as Queen Mansion, home of Oliver Queen (played by Steven Amell) and his family.
  • Witches of East End TV series (2013) – shown as the home of the Gardiner family.
  • UnREAL (2015) – in this Lifetime drama series, the grand historic estate serves as the backdrop for the production of Everlasting, the fictional, The Bachelor-style reality TV show within the series.
  • Bones Fox TV series (2015) – in the season 11 episode “The Promise in the Palace,” it was shown as the Magic Palace.
  • The Boy (2016) – in the horror movie, the castle was used for exterior and some production shots to represent a Gothic English manor.
  • Supernatural  CW TV series (2017) – in the fifth episode (“Advanced Thanatology”) of season 13, its staircase was shown at the abandoned asylum.
  • The Professor (2018) – also released under the title Richard Says Goodbye, it stood as a Liberal Arts college campus (where Richard Brown, Johnny Depp‘s character, teaches) located in the eastern United States.
  • The Amazing Race Canada 6 (2018) – hosted the Starting Line.
The driveway

Located within Hatley Park National Historic Site in Greater Victoria, this 40-room mansion, a Classified Federal Heritage Building, and its estate has, since 1995, been used as the administrative center of for the public Royal Roads University which leases the campus, for $1 per year, from the Department of National Defense.

Drawing Room

This mansion, whose picturesque design is enhanced by a rich array of decoration and fine craftsmanship, was designed by the renowned Canadian architect Samuel Maclure and was built in the Scottish baronial style (the Tudor Revival style was popular in the Edwardian period). The castle was occupied by descendants of the Dunsmuir family until in 1937, after the Great Depression.

Here’s the historical timeline of the castle:

  • In 1906, James Dunsmuir (British Columbia’s Lieutenant Governor), who was of Scottish descent, purchased the property.
  • In 1908, the “Castle” was completed and the Dunsmuir family took up residence that same year.
  • In 1912, the Dunsmuirs commissioned renowned American garden designers Franklin Brett and George D. Hall of Boston, Massachusetts, students of Frederick Law Olmsted, to develop a landscape for the entire site by creating many beautiful formal gardens.  Featuring a variety of native and exotic vegetation, the extensive grounds unfolded, from formal gardens, to recreational spaces, farmlands and forests. They named their estate, in the tradition of British and European private estates, as “Hatley Park.”   
  • In 1939, following the death of Laura Dunsmuir (formerly Laura Surles of North Carolina) in August 1937, the estate was sold to the Government of Canada. The government sold off some of the land.
  • In June 1939, “Maynard & Sons” conducted a public auction, for five days, of the mansion’s contents totaling 927 lots.
  • In November 1940, at the outbreak of the Second World War, the federal Crown-in-Council purchased Hatley Castle for $75,000 for use as a wartime naval training facility and as the King’s royal residence in the event of an invasion of Britain. The royal family and British government decided against the former leaving the UK and King George VI, his wife, Queen Elizabeth stayed in London, while the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret were located at Windsor Castle.
  • On December 13, 1940, HMCS Royal Roads was commissioned as an Officer Training Establishment for short-term probationary RCNVR sub-lieutenants. During this time, some 600 volunteer reserve officers underwent training.
  • In 1941, the Castle served as a dormitory and mess hall for cadets and staff officers at RRMC until Grant Block was completed in 1943.
  • On October 21, 1942, the training of regular force naval cadets was re-established in Canada, and the spirit of the old Royal Naval College of Canada was reborn with the establishment of the Royal Canadian Naval College at Royal Roads.
  • In 1947, the Royal Canadian Naval College became the RCN-RCAF Joint Services College.
  • In 1948, with the admission of army cadets, Royal Roads became the tri-service College known as the Canadian Services College Royal Roads.  
  • In 1968, it was formally renamed Royal Roads Military College, a two-year feeder College for the Royal Military College and College Militaire Royal de Saint Jean until 1975.  It was named for the Royal Roads body of water, which forms the entrance into Esquimalt Harbour from the Strait of Juan de Fuca, lying to the east of the facility.
  • On June 25, 1975, the Royal Roads Military College Degree Act was passed allowing the granting of degrees.
  • In May of 1977, the first class graduated from Royal Roads.
  • In 1986, the Castle was designated, in the Registry of Historic Places of Canada, as a Classified Federal Heritage Building.
  • In the fall of 1989, the first class of postgraduate students graduated.
  • On February 22, 1994, it was announced that Royal Roads Military College would close in the following year. Due to public support, the Province of British Columbia entered negotiations with the federal government of Canada to lease the property and facilities in order to continue its use as a university.
  • On June 21, 1995, by an act of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, Royal Roads University was created. That same year, the castle and grounds were designated a National Historic Site of Canada
  • On August 31, 1995, Royal Roads Military College ceased to exist
  • On September 1, 1995, the facilities were turned over to Royal Roads University which was opened as a public, degree-granting university.
  • In 2008, the 100th anniversary of Hatley Castle was celebrated.

The impressive 200 ft. long and 86 ft. wide building, with an 82 ft. high turret, was built with local stone, trimmed with Valdez and Saturna Island sandstone. Too bad we weren’t able to see its lavish interior appointments of oak and rosewood panelled rooms, baronial fireplace, teak floors, and specially made lighting fixtures as access requires a guided tour (costing approximately $20 to $24) only available during the summer season (it was already the fall season during our visit).

We also visited the Grant Building (Building 24), the main academic building, laboratories, cafeteria, and offices.  Built in 1942, it was named for Captain John Moreau Grant, the first Commanding Officer of HMCS Royal Roads. Recently renovated, the building was recognized as a Federal Heritage Building in 1990.

Grant Building

Hatley Castle: 2005 Sooke Road, Colwood, British Columbia V9C 1Y8. Tel: (250) 391-2600.  Coordinates: 48.4343°N 123.4724°W.

How to Get There: Located about 20 mins. west of downtown Victoria, you can get to Hatley Castle by car, bus or taxi. From downtown Victoria, take the Trans-Canada Highway (#1) North-West, take exit 10 for Colwood and Sooke onto the Old Island Highway (#14), travel south-west for 3 kms. (2 miles), and turn left at the Royal Roads University campus entrance. You can also take an express bus (such as Line 95 or Bus 50 from downtown) and transfer toward Sooke Road / Colwood.

Vancouver Marine Careers Expo (North Vancouver, British Columbia)

Posted on by — Leave a reply
The HMCS Max Bernays and CCGS Sir John Franklin

For one day, residents of North Vancouver got a free sneak peek at two ships are docked at the Shipyards (Burrard Dry Dock Pier) for the Vancouver Marine Careers Expo – the CCGS Sir John Franklin, a state-of-the-art offshore fisheries research ship and science vessel of the Canadian Coast Guard, and HMCS Max Bernays, an Arctic Offshore Patrol Vessel (AOPV) operated by the Canadian Navy.

L-R: the author, Grace and Jandy

Scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 26, between 10 AM and 4 PM, the one-day event featured ship tours, equipment demonstrations and interactive exhibits, as well as the opportunity to meet and speak with a variety of people working in the marine industry. The expo included equipment demonstrations, interactive marine exhibits, career networking, and recruitment opportunities with organizations like BC Ferries and the Royal Canadian Navy.

HMCS Max Bernays

Representatives of the Royal Canadian Navy, the Canadian Marine Careers Foundation and the Canadian Coast Guard where on site, along with industry partners such as BC Ferries, HaiSea Marine, BC Coast Pilots, and the Seafarers International Union of Canada, among others. Attendees who wish to tour the vessels were reminded to wear closed-toed shoes, as open-toe footwear is not permitted on board.

Marine recruiters promoting shipboard, shore-based careers and training opportunities

Jandy, Grace, Kyle and I arrived by 1 PM and the line was very long for the HMCS Max Bernays so we opted to just queue at the shorter line of the CCGS Sir John Franklin. The ship, named for Sir John Franklin, an arctic explorer who led two Royal Navy expeditions in search of the Northwest Passage (the second ending with the death of all his crew around 1848), was ordered in 2011 as part of the Canadian National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS) as a replacement for aging Canadian Coast Guard vessels and launched on December 8, 2017, The first of three vessels, the 63.4 m. (208 ft.) long and 16 m. wide Sir John Franklin, with a displacement of 3,212 metric tons (3,161 long tons), has a maximum speed of 12.5 knots.  It is the sister ship of CCGS Capt. Jacques Cartier and CCGS John Cabot.

CCGS Sir John Franklin

As a research vessel, it is mainly used by Department of Fisheries and Ocean (DFO) scientists for fish surveys along the coast.  The ship is equipped with four laboratories – a 162-sq. m. wet lab, a 66-sq. m. dry lab, a 73-sq. m. oceanographic lab and a 46-sq. m. acoustics lab.

One of the ship’s laboratories

It was our first time on a larger vessel that was not a passenger vessel, like a ferry or cruise ship, and we were impressed with the size of the vessel, and how well equipped it was for so many different types of research.  With so many corridors and small connecting rooms, it was almost like a maze, and it’s easy to get lost exploring the different decks, hence the importance of the guide Mr. Pickrell who showed us around the vessel and explain how everything works onboard. We learn a lot about how the ship runs and the jobs of the crew members. 

The medical bay

We first visited its fully-equipped medical bay. A critical safety hub, it provides emergency care, primary treatment and stabilization for its crew and visiting scientists. Although the CCGS Sir John Franklin is a research vessel, in the event of an emergency, any Coast Guard vessel could be asked to respond to a search and rescue event.  

The onboard fast rescue boat

We saw its onboard fast rescue craft (FRC/RHIB) used for deploying equipment, sampling and short-range safety or transfer operations as well as its. standard commercial marine emergency life raft system stowed securely in hard-shell canisters on the deck and engineered for rapid deployment during an abandon-ship scenario.

The standard commercial marine emergency life raft

We next inspected the crews’ quarters.  Aside from the 13 berths for the crew, there are five double cabins with bunk beds set aside for the research team, and one single cabin for the head scientist.  The 23-man crew (10 officers and 13 crew members) have a 28-day shift at sea and, after the end of their shift, are off for 28 days.

The crew’s quarters

Our guide also explained the key scientific activities done on board  such as midwater trawling (midwater trawls are deployed in the upper 50 m. of the ocean to catch and size juvenile and adult salmonids), diet and stomach analysis (stomach content data are collected to map prey proportions, digestion levels, and feeding habits during early marine winter survival); oceanographic & food web sampling (oceanographic equipment and plankton nets are deployed to measure marine conditions, food web dynamics, and climate impacts affecting low salmon returns in British Columbia) and open access data (the collected catch, event, specimen, and diet datasets are managed through platforms like the Pacific Salmon Foundation and the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission Data Catalogue).

The trawling net

We also got to see the scientific equipment of board. The very large offshore midwater trawl is a funnel-shaped fishing net built by LFS in Bellingham, WA.  The front of a midwater trawl is generally constructed from large hexagonal or rhombic mesh or near-parallel ropes.  Trawling involves the towing of net behind the fishing vessel.  Large trawl doors that are essentially “kites” pull the net open sideways (50 m.) and the mouth of the net 50 m. is held open vertically by floats on the top and a weighted lead line on the bottom.   The net is towed at 2.5-3 knots and the fish are swept back in the narrow end of the net called the codend.  It takes consider able power to fly the net with the headrope at the surface to catch salmon that tend to live in the top 50 m. 

A bongo net consists of two plankton nets mounted next to each other.  The nets have a long funnel shape with a small mesh width (0.2336mm) used for collecting plankton.  The bongo net can be configured to be towed vertically (up and down) or horizontally towed at 1-2 knots with a weight attached between the nets.

CTD with 24-bottle rosette

CTD (conductivity, temperature, and depth), with 24-bottle rosette, detects how conductivity and temperature of the water column changes relative to depth.  Conductivity is a measure of how well a solution conducts electricity, and it is directly related to salinity, or the concentration of salt and inorganic compounds in seawater.  CTDs are attached to a metal frame called a rosette, which holds water-sampling bottles that collects seawater at different depth.  The information that is generated from CTD data can be used to calculate the speed and direction of ocean current as well as map the distribution of temperature and salinity throughout a survey area spatially as well as at depth.

The MOCNESS (an acronym for Multiple Opening and Closing Nets and Environmental Sampling System) is, basically, is a set of nets stacked on top of each other in a single frame that can be towed behind a ship. Scientists can trigger each of these nets to open independently of each other. The MOCNESS delivers data in real time, which allows scientists to control exactly where the nets are and what they are sampling.

The bridge

A highlight of the tour was the bridge of the vessel, home of communication and steering systems, navigational charts, and command controls. The bridge features a highly sophisticated integrated bridge system, designed by Thales and Anschütz, that spans 10 task stations across 7 separate consoles, integrating 24 distinct subsystems. While designed for multiple crew members during intense operations, the bridge layout utilizes an advanced data integration platform (SYNAPSIS) that allows a single operator to command the entire ship from a centralized control station during baseline transit or unexpected scenarios.

Holy Trinity Cathedral (New Westminster, British Columbia)

Posted on by — Leave a reply
Holy Trinity Cathedral

The stone and brick, Gothic Revival-style Holy Trinity Cathedral, a cathedral of the Anglican Diocese of New Westminster, is the third church built on the site. The parish of Holy Trinity Cathedral, established in 1859, is the second-oldest parish in the Diocese of New Westminster by six months, the oldest being St. John’s Maple Ridge. For 150 years, Holy Trinity housed the regimental chapel for The Royal Westminster Regiment. Prior to that time, the officers of the Royal Engineers attend Holy Trinity while enlisted men attended St. Mary the Virgin.

Here’s the historical timeline of the cathedral:

  • In 1859, the parish was established
  • In 1860, a wood-frame church was built by the Royal Engineers on the current site. Col. R.C. Moody, of the Royal Engineers, designed the original layout of the city to include this church site as a prominent central feature
  • In 1865, the church was destroyed by fire.
  • From 1867-68, a second church, designed by German-born Victoria architect and civil engineer Herman Otto “H.O.” Tiedemann, was constructed by builder William Trounce with imported Salt Spring Island sandstone, occupying roughly the same architectural footprint as the current building.
  • In 1892, the cathedral was named as the first Cathedral Church of the Anglican Diocese of New Westminster.
  • In 1898, the second church was destroyed by a disastrous fire which wiped out the greater part of what is now downtown New Westminster. However, the thick sandstone walls of the cathedral survived.
  • From 1899 to 1902, the third and current building for Holy Trinity Cathedral was built using the original walls of the earlier building. It was designed by George William Grant (1852-1925), a prolific architect who designed many of the buildings in downtown New Westminster, before and after the Great Fire.
  • In 1929, the Archbishop of New Westminster formally named Christ Church Cathedral in Vancouver as the cathedral church of the diocese. Although no longer the cathedral church of the diocese, Holy Trinity was still permitted to retain the word cathedral in its name.

The elements of the Gothic Revival style at Holy Trinity Cathedral are seen in the massive masonry construction, asymmetrical brick and stone bell tower and Gothic pointed-arch windows. Ecclesiastical form, scale, and massing are expressed by its irregular picturesque shape, steeply-pitched rooflines, and offset buttressed tower with a crenellated roof-line. A gabled roof, with minimal overhangs, is located on the western projection.



Its interior, with art glass windows, dark-stained woodwork, altar and reredos, is based on the design of St. Paul’s Church, Kensington, London and remains in substantially original condition. The original vaulted ceiling is illuminated by art glass windows executed by Henry Bloomfield and Sons, a prominent firm established in New Westminster in 1890. Its commanding position on Carnarvon Street is part of a grouping of late Victorian and Edwardian era buildings in historic downtown New Westminster.

Holy Trinity Cathedral:  514 Carnarvon Street, New Westminster, V3L 1C4 British Columbia.  Tel: 604.521.2511. Email:administrator@holytrinitycathedral.ca. Website:
holytrinitycathedral.ca. Coordinates: 49.2045°N 122.9078°W.

How to Get There: The cathedral is located on Carnarvon Street at Church Street, near New Westminster’s historic downtown core.

Adler Planetarium (Chicago, Illinois, USA)

Posted on by — Leave a reply

After our tour of Shedd Aquarium, we walked the short 1.3-km. (10-min.) distance, along Solidarity Drive, to Adler Planetarium, a municipal public museum for astronomy and the first planetarium in the United States. As we approached the planetarium, we were greeted by bronze statue of Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus sitting on a pedestal and grazing towards Chicago’s skyline. A bronze replica of the famous 1830 original monument in Warsaw, Poland, created by sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen, the Chicago bronze cast was executed by Bronislaw Koniuszy and dedicated and installed in 1973 by the Adler Planetarium to mark the 500th anniversary of Copernicus’s birth, with funding spearheaded by the Copernicus Foundation.

Adler Planetarium

Located on the northeastern tip of Northerly Island (the first of five intended but, otherwise, never executed recreational islands that were to be consistent with Daniel Burnham‘s 1909 Plan of Chicago) on Lake Michigan, the planetarium is part of Chicago’s Museum Campus (which includes the Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum of Natural History).  Operated by the Chicago Park District, a municipal government agency of the City of Chicago, its mission is to inspire exploration and understanding of the universe.

Bronze statue of Nicolaus Copernicus by Bertel Thorvaldsen

Check out “Shedd Aquarium” and the “Field Museum of Natural History”

Here’s the historical timeline of the planetarium:

  • In 1913, Oskar von Miller of the Deutsches Museum commissioned Carl Zeiss Works in Jena, Germany, to design a mechanism that projects an image of celestial bodies onto a dome.
  • In 1923, Walther Bauersfeld, scientific director of the firm of Carl Zeiss Works  designs an optical projection device that effectively creates the illusion of a night sky. With this innovation, the modern planetarium is born. By 1929, the popularity of the planetarium spreads, and there were fifteen planetariums in Germany, two in Italy, one in Russia, and one in Austria. 
  • In 1928, local businessman  Max Adler (a former executive with Sears, Roebuck & Co. who  had recently retired to focus on philanthropic endeavors, primarily on behalf of musical and Jewish communities) and his cousin architect Ernest A. Grunsfeld, Jr. traveled to Germany where Adler was so impressed by the modern Munich planetarium that he donates funds to construct the first planetarium in the Western Hemisphere. He offers $500,000 for the construction of the first planetarium in the Western Hemisphere and commissions Grunsfeld to design the Chicago structure. 
  • In 1930, at an auction in Amsterdam, Max Adler purchases the collection of antique astronomical instruments of A. W. Mensing. The Mensing Collection became the focus of the Astronomical Museum. 
  • On May 12, 1930. on Max Adler‘s birthday, the Adler Planetarium and Astronomical Museum is opened to the public. Phillip Fox, Ph.D., a professor of astronomy at Northwestern University, is appointed as the Planetarium’s first director.
  • In 1931, Ernest A. Grunsfeld Jr. was awarded the gold medal of the Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects  for the planetarium’s design. 
  • In 1931, the planetarium hosted the 44th meeting of the American Astronomical Society.
  • In 1933, the Century of Progress Exposition takes place on what is now the Museum Campus.
  • In 1941, Phillip Fox is deployed to the Army and, during his absence, Assistant Director Maude Bennot is appointed acting director of the Planetarium.
  • In 1952, Max Adler dies.
  • In 1967, the board of trustees is created to share in the responsibilities and management of the Adler Planetarium with the commissioners of the Chicago Park District. The Adler Planetarium refurbishes the building and replaces the original Zeiss projector with a new Mark VI Zeiss unit.
  • On May 12, 1973, Adler Planetarium’s 43rd birthday, a new underground expansion is opened to the public.
  • In 1976, the Board of Trustees assumes full management responsibility for the planetarium but continues to receive support from the Chicago Park District.
  • In 1977, the Doane Observatory opens.
  • On February 27,  1987, the Adler Planetarium was declared as a National Historic Landmark.
  • In 1987,  Doane Observatory’s original telescope, a 41-cm. (16-in.) Cassegrain reflecting telescope built by the Adler optical and machine shop staff, was retired and replaced with the current telescope.
  • In 1991, the museum unveils the results of the $6.5 million renovation project and, after 23 years of leadership, Dr. Joseph M. Chamberlain retires.
  • In 1999, the 60,000 sq. ft. Sky Pavilion, designed by Lohan Associates of Chicago and featuring four new exhibition galleries, including the historic Atwood Sphere and the Definiti (formerly StarRider) Theater, opens to the public. 
  • In 2005, retired NASA astronaut James A. Lovell Jr. serves as chairman of Adler Planetarium’s 75th-anniversary celebration.
  • In 2007, the Adler Planetarium unveils its new Space Visualization Laboratory (SVL) was inaugurated in 2007 to virtually explore the Universe bringing the latest images of space science to the public.
  • The Space Visualization Laboratory.
  • In 2010, the Adler Planetarium begins transformation of the historic Sky Theater. 
  • In May 2011, the renamed Grainger Sky Theater, at the time, the most technologically advanced dome theater in the world, was opened. The Clark Family Welcome Gallery, designed by Thomas Roszak Architecture, uses an LED-lit fabric and aluminum structure that includes educational interactive material projected on the fabric walls.
  • In 2012, after 21 years of service, Paul H. Knappenberger Jr. Ph.D., announces his retirement.
  • In 2013, the Board of Trustees elects astrophysicist and academic leader Michelle B. Larson, Ph.D., as president and CEO, the Adler Planetarium’s ninth leader and the first female president.
  • In 2013, “Adler After Dark,” the Adler Planetarium’s 21+ evening event, was voted “Best After Hours Event,” by the Chicago Reader, and “Best Date Night” by Chicago Parent. 
  • In 2013, the Adler Planetarium undertook the first major renovation of the Doane Observatory. Renovations included the addition of an indoor classroom, a restroom, accessible entry ramps, and telescope and technology upgrades.
  • In 2015, the major upgrade of the Doane Observatory was completed.
  • In 2025, the Adler Planetarium appoints Elizabeth Babcock as President and Chief Executive Officer.

The Adler Planetarium, a member institution of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope project, has three theaters (two domed and one standard), space science exhibitions, including the Gemini 12 space capsule, a collection of antique scientific instruments and print materials.  The Grainger Sky Theater, the largest of the Adler Planetarium’s theaters, has a dome that measures 21 m./830 in. (69 ft.) in diameter. 

Grace and Jandy

When we approached the planetarium is surrounded by sculptures including Man Enters the Cosmos (Henry Moore, 1980); Spiral Galaxy (John David Mooney, 1998); and America’s Courtyard (Ary Perez and Denise Milan).

Th Adler also hosts the Doane Observatory, a research-active public observatory with the largest aperture telescope available to the public in the Chicago area.  With its 51-cm. (20-in.) diameter mirror, the Doane Observatory can gather over 5,000 times more light than an unaided human eye, allowing guests to see celestial objects like the Moon, planets, stars, and galaxies that are trillions of kilometers, if not many light years, away.

Spiral Galaxy (John David Mooney)

The Astronomy Department of Adler Planetarium and the Webster Institute for the History of Astronomy conduct and publish research for both the scientific community as well as the general public. The planetarium’s astronomers possess expertise in many areas of astronomy as well as other closely related science fields and their studies include planetary geology, star formation, gamma-rays, and telescope observing.

Man Enters the Cosmos (Henry Moore)

The Collections Department cares for, studies, and interprets the planetarium collections which, since the Adler’s opening, has grown to approximately 8,000 objects, books, works on paper, archival collections, paintings, and photographs. The Adler hosts archives from Derek J. de Solla Price, Michael J. Crowe, and NASA astronaut  Jim Lovell, as well as the largest collection of historic scientific instruments in the Western Hemisphere.

The Adler Citizen Science Department is also the U.S. headquarters of The Zooniverse, a citizen science platform and a global collaboration across several institutions that designs and builds citizen science projects and, as of early 2014, has engaged more than 1.1 million online volunteers as active scientists by discovering planets, mapping the surface of Mars, and detecting solar flares.

Guests at “Adler After Dark,” the Adler Planetarium’s 21+ evening event, have open museum access, themed programs, sky shows and views of the Chicago skyline. “Astro Overnights” gives families a chance to spend a night under the stars at the Adler. Guests have open museum access, a sky show and educational programming.

The Adler also hosts quarterly “Hack Days” (intended to encourage software developers, designers, scientists, engineers, artists and people who just like to create and build, to work together to solve problems); and summer camps (where participants build rockets, launch high-altitude balloons, and explore the edge of space). The Adler’s hands-on summer camps are designed for children ages 5–14.

Adler Planetarium: 1300 S DuSable Lake Shore Dr., Chicago, Illinois 60605. Tel: +1 312-922-7827. Website: www.adlerplanetarium.org. Open Thursdays through Tuesdays, 9 AM to 4 PM, and Wednesdays, 4 PM to 10 PM (extended evening hours).  Admission: $25.00 (adults, ages 12+) and $13.00 (children, ages 3-11).  Free admission for Illinois residents. Online advance ticket purchases are required on the Adler Planetarium Tickets page.  Coordinates: 41°51′59″N 87°36′24″W.

Old St. Patrick’s Church (Chicago, Illinois, USA)

Posted on by — Leave a reply
Old St. Patrick Church

On our first whole day in Chicago, before touring the city, Andy drove the 21-km. distance, from their place, to Old St. Patrick’s Church where we heard the 9 AM mass (it being a Sunday) . Also known as St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church and commonly known as Old St. Pat’s, it is the city’s oldest standing church building. Described as the “cornerstone of Irish culture” in Chicago, the main church building is one of a handful of structures remaining in the city that predate the October 1871 Great Chicago Fire which missed Old St. Patrick’s Church by just two blocks.

The Romanesque-Revival-style exterior

Founded on April 12, 1846 (Easter Sunday) by Irish bishop William Quarter as the first English-speaking parish and the second parish established in Chicago (after St. Mary’s which was built by the French), the parish was originally housed in a wooden building at the intersection of Randolph Street and Des Plaines Street.

The steep, pointed south spire representing the Western Church

The present Romanesque Revival-style church building was designed by Augustus Bauer and Asher Carter, two of Chicago’s earliest practicing architects. On May 23, 1853, the cornerstone was laid and, on Christmas Day, 1856, the building was dedicated by Rev. Denis Dunne, the pastor of Old St. Patrick’s.  On St. Patrick’s Day 1857, Mozart’s 12th Mass was performed at the church.

Byzantine-inspired onion dome representing the Eastern Church

In 1885, two octagonal towers, topped with different spires, were completed by the same architect as the Holy Name Cathedral and the Archbishop’s residence. The steep, pointed south spire represents the Western Church while the north tower, with its Byzantine-inspired onion dome, represents the Eastern Church. Together they symbolize the universality of the Catholic Church in a city once dominated by immigrant Irish, Polish, Italian, Bohemian and German Catholics. In the course of the 1880s, the English-speaking parish of St. Patrick was mostly composed of Irish-Americans.

The Celtic cross

Between 1912 and 1922, the interior was redecorated, in the Celtic Revival style, a nationalistic art movement stressed ancient Celtic links to Catholicism. Chicago Daily News graphic artist  and master craftsman Thomas A. O’Shaughnessy (an Irishman from Missouri), inspired by the Celtic art exhibit in the Irish village at the Columbian Exposition of 1893 and the Celtic illuminations found in the late 8th Century Book of Kells (a hand-illuminated Bible housed in Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, it is one of Ireland’s great national treasures), designed, constructed, and personally installed the 15 beautiful stained-glass windows (depicting Irish saints) of Old St. Patrick’s plus the original interior stenciling, decorative motifs and a mosaic-lined niche in the back of the nave between 1912 and 1922. 

The Celtic Revival-style interior

In 1921, the final triptych windows, done in an Art Nouveau style, were installed in the eastern facade of the church. On March 10, 1964, the church was designated as a Chicago Landmark and, on July 15, 1977, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places. In 1985, the first Old St. Patrick’s “World’s Largest Block Party” (which funded the rebuilding of the church) drew 5,000 people to Des Plaines Street. Today, Old St. Pat still hosts this massively popular, annual summer block party. In 1996, the reconstruction and restoration of most of the church interior and exterior were completed.

The main altar with statue of St. Patrick above it

This 37-m. (120-ft.) long and 19.5-m. (64-ft.) wide church was constructed with Cream City brick made from yellowish clay found along the shores of Lake Michigan, near Milwaukee. The base is made of Joliet limestone. Celtic Revival’s entwined bands, lines, dragons and long-tailed birds snaked across the walls and windows of St. Pat’s in determined harmony.  The fabulous interlace ornament (lacy lines symmetrically entwined), in paint and glass, were styled, in part, after illuminations found in the Book of Kells.

The Art-Nouveau Faith, Hope and Charity Triptych of Thomas A. O’Shaughnessy

This Art Nouveau triptych, in stained-glass, also called the Faith, Hope & Charity windows as it symbolizes the virtues of faith, hope and charity (viewed left to right from the nave), is an amazing and meticulously composed set of windows. O’Shaughnessy’s tour de force it is, arguably, the finest of its kind in the U.S. Thousands of precisely cut and delicately hued areas of glass, separated by hairlines of lead, copper foil and bronze, were assembled in an unsurpassed spiritual imagery. 

Stained-glass windows depicting Irish saints St. Columba (written in Gaelige as Naom Coluumbkille) and St. Brendan (written in Gaelige as Naom Brendan)
Stained-glass depicting St. Bernard of Clairvaux

The MacSwiney window, the central window (Hope Window), is the most intricate of the lot as it uses more than 250,000 individual pieces of glass and no pint whatsoever. It was named in honor of Terrance McSwiney, the lord mayor of Cork who had died in a hunger strike, in 1920, in the fight for Irish independence from British rule. The glass colors, for all these windows, were manufactured in 1912 by Kinsella Art Glass, as per O’Shaughnessy’s own formulas. Above the doorway is a painted mahogany angel.

Old St. Patrick’s Church: 700 West Adams St. cor, Des Plaines St., Chicago, Illinois 60661. Tel: ​312.648.1021. E-mail: ​info@oldstpats.org. Website: www.oldstpats.org. Coordinates: 41°52′45″N 87°38′40″W.

Buckingham Fountain (Chicago, Illinois, USA)

Posted on by — Leave a reply
Buckingham Fountain

After our late lunch at Andy and Raquel’s place, we drove the 27.2-km. (30-min.) distance to our first sightseeing destination in Chicago – Buckingham Fountain (officially called is the Clarence Buckingham Memorial Fountain), one of the largest fountains in the world. Also considered one of the finest ornamental fountains in America, many tourists and Chicagoans visit the fountain each year. The centerpiece of Grant Park, the fountain area has been called Chicago’s “Front Yard.” It has been designated as a Chicago Landmark and a contributing feature within Grant Park’s listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

Grant Park and the Chicago skyline

The fountain, constructed at a cost of $750,000 ($13.9 million in 2025), was donated to the city by important Chicago art patron and philanthropist Kate Sturges Buckingham who also established the Buckingham Fountain Endowment Fund with an initial investment of $300,000 to pay for maintenance.

Here’s the historical timeline of the fountain:

  • In the mid-1920s, Beaux Arts architect Edward H. Bennett (1874-1954) of  the firm Bennett, Parsons and Frost and longtime associate of Daniel H. Burnham (1846–1912) and co-author of his seminal Plan of Chicago, prepared new plans to complete Grant Park, envisioning a monumental fountain to serve as the park’s formal focal point without obstructing views of Lake Michigan. Philanthropist and art patron Kate Sturges Buckingham (1858 – 1937), the last member of the Buckingham family, agreed to donate one million dollars for the magnificent fountain in Grant Park as a memorial to her brother, philanthropist and businessman Clarence Buckingham (1854 – 1913). Engineer Jacques H. Lambert and architect Clarence W. Farrier served as associates on the project.
  • On May 26, 1927, the fountain was officially opened to the public
  • On August 26, 1927, Buckingham Fountain was dedicated with conductor John Philip Sousa and his band playing “Pomp and Circumstance” before an audience of 50,000 people.
  • In the late 1950s, the major water displays, which originally occurred only twice a day, three times a week, were now offered every day.
  • In 1968, the light show was first automated. Originally, the engineers used a keyboard, with 21 electric switches, to fade, brighten, and blend colors to create numerous light effects.
  • In 1980, when the Chicago Park District entered into a contract with Honeywell, the operations became fully automated (Buckingham Fountain was manually operated, from 1927 through the 1970s, by two stationary engineers who each worked a daily 12-hour shift).  The computer was located on site, but the monitoring system took place remotely, off premises, in the Chicago suburbs. 
  • In the mid-1980s,  the monitoring system was moved to Atlanta, Georgia.
  • On July 21, 1993, the fountain was officially added to the National Register of Historic Places. That same day, to transform the space and encourage social gathering, the Chicago Park District announced a summer Seating Pilot Program inspired by the Luxembourg Garden in Paris.
  • In 1994, due to leaks developed during Chicago’s harsh winters and to address some of its masonry problems, the Buckingham Fountain underwent a major $2.8 million conservation project to its three smallest basins, with Buckingham Fund of the Art Institute and the Chicago Park District cooperatively funding the project. The monitoring system also returned to the pump house of the fountain.
  • On August 30, 2000, the fountain was designated as an official Chicago Landmark.
  • In September 2008, the three-phase renovation project (to modernized aging internal systems in the fountain and restored deteriorated features) on Buckingham Fountain began. Funding was a combination from the Buckingham endowment, city and park district funds and a grant from the Lollapalooza music festival which is held annually near the fountain.
  • On April 3, 2009, Phase I was dedicated. This phase included permeable pavers (a safer and smoother surface which complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990) surrounding the fountain, which replaced the crushed stone that was used since the fountain was constructed.
  • Between 2009 and 2012, additional repairs were made including landscape improvements surrounding the monument, plumbing upgrades, and computer upgrades.
  • In 2013, the Chicago Park District upgraded the Buckingham Fountain computer with a non-proprietary Allen-Bradley PLC System. 
  • In August 2016, in a partnership with the City of Chicago, the Chicago Park District and Everywhere Wireless, the fountain viewing area joined many Chicago beaches and the Museum Campus in providing free Wi-Fi to visitors.

The fountain, built in a Rococo wedding cake style, comprises four basins clad in elaborately-carved granite and pink Georgia marble.  It is twice the size and re-circulates approximately three times more water than the Bassin de Latone of the Latona Fountain at the Palace of Versailles, which it was modeled after.

One set of Art-Deco-style, bronze sea horses

The massive lower basin features four sets of Art Deco-style, bronze (with a natural green copper patina) sea horses (two per set), created by the French sculptor Marcel F. Loyau (1895–1936), representing nearby Lake Michigan, and  symbolizing the four states (Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana) that border the lake. To create the sea-related bronze elements, Loyau studied the sea horse collection at a zoological institution in Paris. The fountain’s sculptural elements garnered Loyau the Prix National at the 1927 Paris Salon.

Upper basin

The monument’s original design included colored lighting to emulate the effect of “soft moonlight.” The fountain contains 820 lights with 16 in the top bowl; 72 in the upper trough; 204 in the inner trough; 432 in the lower trough; 24 in the isolated jets; 60 in the sea horses and 12 in the bulrushes.

One of the fountain’s water jets

The bottom pool of the fountain is 85 m. (280 ft.) in diameter, the lower basin is 31 m. (103 ft.), the middle basin is 18 m. (60 ft.) and the upper basin is 7.3 m. (24 ft.). The lip of the upper basin is 7.6 m. (25 ft.) above the water in the lower basin. The fountain also contains 820 lights with 16 in the top bowl; 72 in the upper trough; 204 in the inner trough; 432 in the lower trough; 24 in the isolated jets; 60 in the sea horses and 12 in the bulrushes.

The fountain has its original two-level underground pump house with the control room on the first level, and a 35 ft. long and 25 ft. wide lower level pump room.  The original pumps and motors are still in operation today.  The water displays are powered by three pumps.  Pump 1 (75 HP for 1,600 gallons of water a minute) is the primary pump that keeps the fountain running throughout the day while Pumps 2 (190 HP for 5,500 gallons of water a minute) and Pump 3 (250 HP for 7,000 gallons of water a minute) operate during the major display.

Another set of bronze sea horses

Depending on wind conditions, major displays recirculate approximately 0.88 cu. m. (14,000 U.S. gallons per minute) of water per second are conveyed through 133 jets with one central jet at the top of the upper basin used for the 150-ft. tall geyser; 34 jets pointing upwards from the top basin along the inner top ring; 34 jets at the consoles located along the perimeter of all three basins; 12 jets for each of the three basins that spray an arc to the level about 8 jets spout from the sea horses’ mouths; and 20 isolated jets of 4 groups of 5 spray heads. Water is recirculated from the base pool after the basins are filled and not drawn from the outside except to replace losses from wind and evaporation. 

Today, all of the automation and monitoring takes place on-site, with remote alarm monitoring and notification. The fountain’s security system is monitored from Arlington Heights (a Chicago suburb).

The author (center) with Grace and Jandy

The song Spider-Man Dick, by Cupcakke, mentions the fountain. Buckingham Fountain was also featured in the following:

Metal chairs (in two styles, one upright and another slightly reclined), manufactured by Fermob in Paris, allow visitors to bask in the warm summer days ahead.  Available daily, from May 30 through September, except during major events hosted in Grant Park, they can be moved around to take advantage of the stunning views of the fountain, the park, the lake, and the skyline.

Buckingham Fountain: Columbus Drive (301 East) and Congress Parkway (500 South), Grant Park, Downtown Chicago, Illinois 60601. Tel: (312) 742-3918. Coordinates: 41°52′33″N 87°37′08″W. The fountain operates daily, from 8 AM to 11 PM, typically from mid-April through mid-October, depending on weather. Regular water water-jet displays, beginning at 9 AM and lasting 20 mins., occur every hour on-the-hour. shows, the center jet shoots up vertically to 46 m. (150 ft.), and, after dusk, a spectacular light and music display accompanies the major display, choreographed with colored lights and music (the last show begins at 10 PM and the final display of the day begins at 10:35 PM). The fountain shuts down just after the last display, around 10:55 PM.  Display times are subject to change during special events in Grant Park. During winter, the fountain is decorated with festival lights.

How to Get There: The fountain is located in the center of Grant Park, between Queen’s Landing and near the intersection of Columbus Drive and the end of Ida B. Wells Drive. By bus, take either the south-bound CTA bus line #146 or #147 to Congress and Michigan, then walk .3 miles east to fountain. If driving, take Shore Drive (US 41) south to Jackson, right on Jackson to Columbus. Left on Columbus to fountain.