On a bright and sunny early autumn day in October 1901, the carriage of The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York—The British Empire’s future King George V and Queen Mary—arrived at Oak Bay’s Willows Fairgrounds to the roar of an approving crowd. The reason for the exceptionally large cheer was that it was the first royal visit to B.C.’s capital city in nearly 20 years.
As crowds gathered, a large brass band enthusiastically performed patriotic anthems. The entire capital city was “adorned with decorations” of “artistic genius” and “beauty and splendor” for the royal visit, the British Colonist newspaper described. From the carriage in front of the great Crystal Palace exhibition hall, the Duke tipped his cap to the thousands of cheering spectators, and two young girls, wearing their finest white dresses, strewed flowers on the crimson-carpeted pathway leading to the gallery platform. Horse guards assembled on either side of the building’s grand facade, and the procession that day included the governor general of the Dominion of Canada, the prime minister, B.C.’s lieutenant governor, the mayor of Victoria, as well as various local dignitaries.
The entire spectacle lasted less than an hour, yet the royal visit was the pinnacle in the short-lived history of Oak Bay’s forgotten architectural crown jewel—the opulent B.C. Agricultural Association Exhibition Building—better known as “Crystal Palace.”
Modelled after the world-renowned Crystal Palace built for the 1851 Great Exhibition in London, Oak Bay’s version featured a striking centrepiece inspired by the original’s famous glass fountain, garlanded by colourful flowers and lush ferns, installed prominently in its central rotunda.
The Crystal Palace’s construction represented the growing confidence and imperial ambitions of the young provincial capital. By 1890, Victoria’s population was 17,000 residents. Victoria’s Agricultural and Historical Society had held an annual exhibition since 1862 in various parts of the city, including Beacon Hill Park. Seeking a more permanent home, the city purchased six acres of land by the existing Willows Racetrack (near today’s Eastdowne Road and Haultain Street) and, by public vote, budgeted $45,000 for a new exhibition hall.
Designed by architect Cornelius J. Soule, the entire structure was built in a breathless 90 days to host the 1891 Provincial Agricultural Exhibition. Miraculously, at day 80 of its construction, its crowning dome had not yet been completed. Contractor William Lorimer, said to have been motivated by a unique mix of civic duty, financial gain and whimsical project planning, had carelessly committed to it being ready for opening day. As the 1891 exhibition officially opened its doors, the building was indeed there, and mostly ready to welcome the world to a rural part of Victoria that would later become incorporated as the municipality of Oak Bay in 1906.
The building boasted more than 26,000 square feet of exhibition space on the ground floor, with an additional 10,000 square feet in the galleries. Its central arcade, illuminated by 52 monumental windows that rose from floor to roof, ensured a pleasant atmosphere of air and light. At each corner, grand staircases led to two upper levels of arcaded galleries.
On top of it all, the main flagpole rose 170 feet into the clouds, surrounded by four smaller cupola-capped towers connected by walkways and balconies. A platform 75 feet high boasted the highest viewpoint anywhere in the city, and 23 flagpoles of various heights created a colourful ensemble of patriotic flags and pennants. Equal parts castle, cathedral and commercial market hall, it made a striking and almost dreamlike silhouette at sunrise and sunset, contrasting with the surrounding countryside of farms and fields stretching for miles in each direction.
The public was immediately enthralled by its grandeur and scale, the likes of which had not been seen before anywhere in B.C. Pre-dating the Francis Rattenbury-designed Parliament Buildings by six years, many commentators considered the new Crystal Palace the greatest architectural triumph in western Canada.
Despite its public acclaim, it didn’t take long for cracks to show, literally, in the grand façade. The rushed construction job meant many cut corners and even within the first year, vendors and visitors complained about creaky and sinking floorboards, frequent roof leaks, unreliable and hazardous electric lighting and many more problems ranging from minor inconveniences to dangerously poor and shoddy construction work.
Continuous upkeep and frequent repairs proved extremely costly. Faulty wiring became a perennial concern. Between 1896 and 1900, the building was deemed unsafe and shuttered, to great public dismay. In advance of the royal visit in 1901, thousands of dollars were spent on critical structural and cosmetic upgrades to ensure it was fit, and safe, for a king. Despite the costly renovations, and rather incredibly, mere moments after the royal couple’s departure, smoke was spotted from a ground-floor window, and the fire brigade was called to extinguish a small fire. Faulty wiring was the likely culprit.
Nevertheless, the Crystal Palace proved to be a popular and iconic anchor for the expansive Willows Fairgrounds property, which hosted annual fall fairs until 1941, by which time many old structures on the property had fallen into disrepair. In 1948, the land was sold and subdivided for residential development, with a small portion retained for public use as Carnarvon Park.
Oak Bay’s glittering Crystal Palace exhibition hall was an architectural masterpiece, but has largely been forgotten in the mists of time. It burned to the ground on Boxing Day 1907 in a giant inferno seen as far away as Seattle. Firefighters who had quickly arrived on scene were powerless to act. There was only one nearby fire hydrant, and no fire hose. They, and the rest of the city, watched helplessly as the windows shattered, the grand dome collapsed and strong winds fanned the gigantic flames, which were said to have lit up the night sky as though it were day. The cause of the fire was undetermined but blamed on arson—a sad and undignified end to the Crystal Palace’s brief and chequered 16-year reign as the architectural crown jewel of Oak Bay.
