Demolition

For most of my life I've assumed that when builders wanted old buildings destroyed they used a wrecking ball like I'd seen in cartoons. Recently I've realized that I've never actually seen a wrecking ball being used. I don't even know if they exist any more. I know that for big buildings they use explosives. And now I know that for small buildings such as this, they just knock it down with machines. This machine was picking up that big piece of cement and rebar, holding it above the building and then dropping it. In the photo it has just dropped the big chunk of cement. (This makes a lot of noise and dust and looks like it would be fun to do, for about an hour. Then it would be nice to go and have some milk and cookies and a nap....) The building being demolished here was a parking garage attached to what is now becoming "The Hudson" (inner city heritage restoration condo/loft living).

The Hudson

While I'm on the subject of residential initiatives here I'll post these pictures of The Hudson, currently under construction on the corner of Fisgard and Douglas Streets (i.e. downtown). It's called The Hudson because for many years it was the Hudson's Bay Company department store, known as "The Bay." For those of you who may not know, the Hudson's Bay Company was responsible for the exploration/exploitation of much of Canada, especially for the fur trade.

Victoria founder James Douglas arrived here in 1843 to set up the Hudson's Bay Company Trading Post that became Fort Victoria. Such trading posts were widespread throughout Canada. In more recent years the company was represented by a chain of department stores across the country. With the decline of department stores and their replacement by suburban malls, this building became vacant for some years since it was too nice to demolish but no longer usable as originally intended.

In its transformation to The Hudson, most of it has been demolished except the façade and interior flooring. Those creamy columns are terracotta, a kind of ceramic. Saving attractive old buildings, rebuilding them and increasing the residential areas within the city are initiatives I'm happy to see and I will be watching The Hudson as it develops. And, while not as revolutionary as Dockside Green, The Hudson is nevertheless being rebuilt with some sensitivity to environmental concerns. Below is a wider angle shot of the building in context.