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How English Billiards Used to be Played at the Club

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The following was shared with the Club by Dennett Netterville, Union Club Billiards Coach and IBSF/Snooker Gym Master Coach.  Thanks Dennett!

Walter Lindrum, one of the greatest billiard players of all time.

English Billiards was all the rage when the Union Club was formed in 1879… and having a classy place to play the game with good friends was one of the main attractions for joining the Club back then.

The game of English Billiards remained popular at the Union Club until the mid-20th century.

Here is an exhibition of how the game should be played, performed by Walter Lindrum, one of the best billiards players to ever hold a cue:

Harvard Club Considers a Change, and Some Think It’s the ‘Worst Thing Ever’

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Members of the Harvard Club are upset about a proposal to turn the majestic Harvard Hall, designed by the famed architect Charles McKim, into a dining room. Credit: Ramsay de Give for The New York Times

On the wood-paneled walls of Harvard Hall, the majestic heart of the Harvard Club in Midtown Manhattan, hang portraits of Teddy Roosevelt and other notable graduates. The head of an elephant, a gift to the club, hovers in an alcove where members luxuriate on plush leather couches to read and sometimes nap.

It is a place of elegance and quiet contemplation, and as rarefied spaces go, there are few more rarefied. “I see it as Harvard asserting its primacy as an early American institution,” Barry Bergdoll, a professor of modern architectural history at Columbia University, said of the room.

But when the club’s leadership proposed turning Harvard Hall into a dining room, the sniping among members had all the gentility of a barroom brawl.

“I have been called a fascist dictator,” Michael Holland, the club president, told more than 200 unhappy members during a meeting on Sept. 12.

Harvard Hall has been used for dining before, from 1905 to 1915. Credit: Harvard Club

The crowd booed. “I am not defensive,” he said.

According to people in attendance and a recording of the meeting obtained by The New York Times, one member accused Mr. Holland of sending misleading emails. People clapped when a person called for the club’s leadership to resign. Still others questioned why a change was necessary given the club’s overall financial health.

Depending on whom one talks to, the proposed change to Harvard Hall is either a vast conspiracy to turn the esteemed club into a catering-venue-for-hire or an attempt by the leadership to stem losses in its food and beverage business.

It is not uncommon in the genteel world of New York private clubs for members to weigh profit and convenience. But the members of the Harvard Club seem to be taking this proposal personally.

Ivan Shumkov, an architect, called it one of the most sacred spaces in New York, having been created by an architectural icon, the Harvard alumnus Charles McKim. “If we destroy Harvard Hall,” he said that night, “I think it will be the worst thing ever.”

While refugees of the Yale Club, for example, have long complained it is more corporate than clubby, the Harvard Club, on West 44th Street, has maintained a familial appeal. The membership, roughly 13,000, is made up mostly of faculty, graduates and their spouses. There is a gym with squash courts and guest rooms decorated with university memorabilia for overnight stays. Every year the club holds its own Christmas tree lighting. New York residents pay as much as $2,147 annually in dues, with nonresidents and newer graduates paying less.

A chandelier, decorated with the university shield, in Harvard Hall. Credit: Ramsay de Give for The New York Times

What makes the ruckus at the Harvard Club particularly sensitive is Harvard Hall itself. Mr. McKim built the club, adding Harvard Hall, with its blush-colored French stone walls and two walk-in fireplaces, in 1905. He and his firm, McKim, Mead & White, designed some of the most celebrated Beaux-Art architecture in America, including the University Club of New York, much of Columbia University, the Pierpont Morgan Library and the Boston Public Library.

“It is quite distinct in New York,” Mr. Bergdoll said of Harvard Hall. “It is meant to represent Harvard.”

Like many fights, the one at the Harvard Club started over money. Mr. Holland, the owner of a private investment firm who like other club officers is a volunteer, said that three years ago, the club instituted 22 recommendations to shore up its finances. One recommendation not pursued at the time was to move the a la carte dining service from the dining room, with its airy windows and high balcony, into Harvard Hall. The idea was not unprecedented; Harvard Hall hosted diners from 1905 to 1915.

Since those changes, losses in the club’s food and beverage business have persisted. A mere 8 percent of members accounted for 50 percent of a la carte dining revenue last year, suggesting the dining room is underused.

In February, the club hired Julia Heyer, a restaurant consultant whose firm has worked on projects at Grand Central Terminal and for Brooklyn Brewery. Mr. Holland said she proposed that club dining be moved to Harvard Hall and that two kitchens be separated to improve efficiency. At the same time, the current dining room, which is more spacious than Harvard Hall, could be rented out for larger weddings and banquets, generating more revenue.

The changes didn’t seem too drastic to Mr. Holland. “It’s just moving the furniture,” he said. “It’s not an earthshaking change in how the rooms are used.”

Many members, though, had a different take. In early August, three former committee members of the club sent an email to the board of trustees. The men, Jonathan David, E. Theodore Lewis Jr. and Charles Lauster, laid out reasons the proposal to turn Harvard Hall into a dining room should be rejected.

They warned that the use of the main dining room for banquets and special events would “negatively effect the ambiance of the club” and “eliminate Harvard Hall as a place of quiet enjoyment for members and guests.”

“We are not opposed to making changes that could place the Club on a sounder financial foot,” they wrote. “But we view the current proposal as ill-considered, insufficiently researched and unnecessarily disruptive.”

Mr. Holland said the authors commented without knowing all the facts. (In an email, Mr. David said the three men declined to comment.) Herbert Pliessnig, the club’s general manager, said in an interview that the club planned to hold only an additional five to 10 events annually if the proposal were adopted.

The current dining hall could be rented out for more events if dining were moved to Harvard Hall. Credit: Ramsay de Give for The New York Times

Mr. Holland said of the men: “They really care about the club. How they go about it is their business, whatever they do.”

Their email was widely shared among members, particularly the club’s special interest groups, who frequently meet to discuss topics like American literature, politics or history.

Some were concerned that they would have limited access to quiet rooms if the Harvard Club rented out more space to outsiders. Others were displeased that lunch would no longer be served on the balcony of the main dining room, a favorite gathering spot, if that room were turned into an event space. Mr. Holland said he has received hundreds of emails, mostly in opposition.

One of those letters was from Seth  Herbert, a former vice president and senior international counsel at Estée Lauder who has been a club member for 25 years. He said in an interview that he had left the Yale Club (he has degrees from both schools) because it no longer felt like “home” and that he worried the same would happen to the Harvard Club. “I’m very ambivalent about the proposal,” he said. “It is a major decision that affects the culture of the club.”

Mr. Holland said there would be no decision on Harvard Hall without a vote of the members. He and his team have held three meetings to present the plan. At the first one, on Sept. 7, they laid out two options: members could choose to make Harvard Hall a dining room or they could not. If they opposed the change, annual dues could increase by as much as 10 percent, according to the presentation.

The Sept. 12 meeting, judging by the recording, was particularly tense. Among other accusations, one man told Mr. Holland that an email sent to members with the headline, “Enhancing Your Member Experience,” mischaracterized the seriousness of the proposed change. Most people didn’t read past the first sentence, the man said.

By the third meeting, on Sept. 18, “it was more mixed, but still emotional,” Mr. Holland said. “A couple of times I had to explain that we are volunteers and we are trying to do good.”

The Story Behind “Motherhood: Dedicated to Grace” by Arthur Vickers

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Look more closely at three art works in the Union Club Reading Room.

In 1993 Arthur Vickers was asked by the directors of Grace Hospital to create a work of art that would embody his feelings about the hospital where he was born. His devotion to the hospital runs deep: “My mother’s name was Grace, and my wife Jessica and I were both born at Grace Hospital,” said Vickers.

“The idea of coming up with an image that could help Grace Hospital fundraise was an honour for me,” he said. Vickers spent one year sketching ideas and contemplating how he would portray “Motherhood,” which is what the hospital symbolized for him. The suite of three hand pulled serigraphs “are a tribute to all mothers. To my mom, to my Aunt Jane, to every mother.”

Vickers inspiration for the three-part limited-edition fine art print suite was a meeting of First Nations from across the Northwest Coast at Bella Bella in 1993. “There were literally thousands of people at the gathering. I saw a young man doing the paddle dance and teaching some children how to do it. There was a little girl who was dancing beside him with her hands held out. She got tired, so she stopped dancing and started looking for her mom. Crying and distraught, she ran across the field,” recalled Vickers. “She then tapped the lady next to me on the thigh. Even in the midst of all the commotion, the dancing, and the fires, the woman’s attention became totally focused on her child. That’s motherhood.”

“My aunt and uncle were also there. They were happy to see their culture being passed to the next generation. They were the inspiration for portraits of the elderly couple in the first print ” explained Vickers. Arthur spent a few months every year living with his aunt and uncle while he was a child, referring to them as his “summer parents.” The woman’s heavily lined face is gazing contentedly upon her daughter. Behind the elderly woman is her husband, who had supported her through all of her years as a mother.

The second work in the suite features the portrait of the mother, a subtle smile of contentment and deep happiness on her face. “You see that look so often when a mother’s attention is 100 per cent focused on her child. I remember my own mom looking down on me like that,” explained Vickers. “It’s the essence of motherhood. She is in her regalia, with her head bent down looking at the baby or child you don’t see. The mother imagines her child growing up learning her family’s culture and history,” he noted.

The third piece in the suite is of the children dancing: “The legs of the children dancing fade into dust or mist as the children aren’t real. They’re the dream of the mother.” In her dream the children are dancing happily and eager to learn: “The children are very busy. The mother is pleased to pass on the customs and heritage of her culture.”

All three works of art feature elements of the eagle. Each one is drawn with depth and texture; they look startlingly real. “The eagle feather is something I’ve done for years,” said Vickers. “My mother was adopted into the Eagle clan, and I’m a member of the same clan.”

Grace passed away in 1995 one year after the “Motherhood” suite was completed. “Now this art is a remembrance of my mom who has passed on,” he said. “Her passing taught me a lot. I started to think, ‘What have I done?’ There’s an element of fear or urgency, whatever it is. It’s hard to think of your mom not being there, no matter what your age is.”

The “Motherhood” suite is intensely personal for Vickers, as they are his only works of art where his family members are the models: “I think with my heart rather than my head. It was emotionally challenging using the subconscious and conscious elements at the same time.”

“I’m really grateful for the opportunity to have done this,” said Arthur. Drawing on the richness of his First Nations culture, he concluded: “The grace of our ancestry is giving.”

In donating some of his most personal works of art to support Grace Hospital (now British Columbia Women’s Hospital & Health Centre), Arthur Vickers has completed the circle of grace.

View the Arthur Vickers print “triptych”, Motherhood: Dedicated to Grace, on the wall of the reading room, facing you directly as you walk in through the main entrance doors. The Club is proud to have Arthur and Jessica as non-resident members who often stay at the Club when they are in Victoria. See more of Arthur’s work on display at the Arthur Vickers Art Gallery next time you are in Cowichan Bay.

 

“Motherhood” Dedicated to Grace

Suite of three serigraph prints 17/155

Arthur Vickers

1994

Observations & Thoughts on the Career of Alan J. Hodgson, F.R.A.I.C.

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Art historian Martin Segger, right, curated a show that highlighted mid-century Victoria architects, including Alan Hodgson, left, circa 2011. Photo: FRANCES LITMAN / VICTORIA TIMES COLONIST

SOME OBSERVATIONS AND THOUGHTS ON THE CAREER OF ALAN JAMES HODGSON F.R.A.I.C ARCHITECT (1928-2018)

by Martin Segger

Delivered at his Celebration of Life, Union Club of British Columbia, August 12, 2018

Sheila Hodgson kindly invited me to say a few words about Alan’s legacy as a Victoria architect during Alan’s celebration of life held at the Union Club.  And I am delighted to do so…

It is appropriate that we are here at the Union Club of British Columbia celebrating Alan’s life. As well as a member, he was for many years architect of record for the maintenance and improvement of this Club house. Members owe him a debt of gratitude for his diligent stewardship of the fabric which laid the groundwork for the more recent total restoration of the Club, including the room we are in …. finishing touches now being applied!

My own introduction to Alan’s work was rather curious.  I first became familiar with one of his masterpieces, the MacLaurin Building at the University of Victoria. I was an undergraduate at UVic participating in a week-long student protest sit-in outside the president’s office on the fourth floor. Another major project, Centennial Square, was of course the gathering point, also for seemingly all too frequent student protest marches on the Provincial Legislature. This also was shortly to become one of his major restoration projects.  Although, of course, at the time we didn’t pay much attention to the architecture.

My real familiarity with his work was to come much later, as a co-supporter and activist in heritage conservation.  And more recently with a more academic focus on appreciating Victoria’s early Modernist legacy.  I treasure so many conversations with him on that topic.  He was a marvelous raconteur on the subject of the post-war architectural practices in Victoria.

Alan’s architectural career was multifaceted. After opening his own practice in 1960, Alan quickly developed a reputation for his very personal interpretation of the current International Modernist idiom. In his residential work he was an early exponent of the West Coast Style.  The Hodgson family’s own house in Vic West, the sculptor Elza Mayhew’s studio in James Bay and the Warren House in Saanich, are all sublime essays in site-specific design, expressions of local materials, sophisticated manipulation of natural light, open floor plans and glazed walls framing dramatic view-scapes.  One has to put them in a category along with the contemporaneous work of the Vancouverites Ned Pratt and Ron Thom.  And I would argue that there was something very uniquely Victoria about Alan’s domestic work, a scale and respect for location and setting that eschewed, for instance, the more dramatic bombast of Arthur Erickson’s houses on the North Shore of Vancouver at that time.

The application of these same sensitivities on a larger scale was evident in Alan’s early institutional work.

Engaged in 1966 to carry-out the largest commission in the first phase of the University of Victoria’s new Gordon Head Campus, Alan designed the six-story Arts and Education (MacLaurin) Building.  His design brief stated that the building must create a “progressive social atmosphere, one that encouraged students to meet and interact with each other”. And in response he designed a massive concreted structure that, elevated above ground level on pilotis, allowed for a mix of open public spaces, external arcades and interior glazed galleries focusing on a contained but open courtyard.  The Corbusier-inspired concrete Brutalism of the forms and finishes is softened with the use a warm red-brick finishes and reticulated cedar window hoods on the south-side upper floors. This blends with a Scandinavian attention to detail and finish carried throughout the interiors.  The MacLaurin set a high standard that would be echoed during subsequent phases of the University’s build-out over the next 50 years. In 1971 and 1978, Alan provided additions to the building, including the Music Wing comprising practice rooms and teaching spaces anchored by the Phillip Young Auditorium still noted as one of the finest acoustical performance halls in Victoria.

This project no-doubt led to another major educational commission, the Terrace campus for Northwest Community College (now Coast Mountain College) in 1968.  Here a range of classroom buildings anchored by a large student services block respond to their woodland meadow setting on a coastal mountain plateau.  The buildings, studies in abstract form, explore the play between cast concrete structural elements, wood-detailing and cedar-siding wall panel finishes.

Alan’s innovative use of concrete, brick and glazed curtain wall found early expression in his work along with another interest.  In 1961 he joined with the group of local architects lead by Rod Clack responding to Mayor Richard Biggerstaff Wilson’s 1961 call to revitalize down-town Victoria by creating a “progressively modern” civic square.  Alan and Rod worked together on the architectural model which laid out the design approach and main elements of the Square. The project included the restoration of two major civic monuments, the 1878/91 City Hall and 1914 Pantages Theatre, while adapting both to a new life as part of an active pedestrian space.  Alan’s piece, the theatre project, prompted extensive research in Europe that ultimately lead to a faithful restoration of the historic audience chamber, but also a new back-stage, front-of-house lobbies and a restaurant addition raised above the Square.  The Modernist additions utilizing cantilevered reinforced concrete elements, brick façade finishes and expansive glazed curtain walls gracefully transitioned the east end of the Square from the Victorian urban setting of Old Town to the spirited Modernism of the new Square, particularly its central focal point, the mosaic stele of Jack Wilkinson’s “Centennial Fountain”. Centennial Square was recognized with an AIBC Award for Architectural Excellence.

While completing his articles at Public Works in the late 1950s, Alan worked with Peter Cotton and Andy Cochrane on the new Government House.  Replacing the previous Rattenbury/Maclure Arts-and-Crafts style building which burned down in 1957, this design referenced its institutional heritage with a modern evocation that maintained the functional floor plan of the original. It also recreated in-detail, the main state rooms of its Edwardian predecessor.  Heritage restoration was to become a major specialization within Alan’s practice.

The Pantages Theatre project was followed by what was to become the largest heritage restoration project in the Province. In the early 1970s Alan assumed the roles of design and project architect for the restoration of the Parliament Buildings. He was awarded the prestigious Heritage Canada National Conservation Award for nearly two decades of innovative conservation work on the Buildings. This not only included a faithful restoration of the major ceremonial spaces, training a new generation of restoration craft trades, but also – based on detailed study of the original F. M. Rattenbury drawings – a highly innovative “finishing” of previously undeveloped areas of the buildings according to Rattenbury’s original intentions.  Numerous high-profile architectural conservations projects would follow: for instance, the Victoria Masonic Temple, the Odd Fellows Hall, and the conversion of an Edwardian temple bank into Munro’s Bookshop, the latter celebrated with a Hallmark Restoration Award.

Alan’s practice was noted for the quiet elegance and attention to detail in the design work.  This can be seen in his commissions, over 500 during his 55 years of practice. These included the industrial plant complex for Island Farms Dairies on Blanshard Street, marking the entrance to downtown Victoria, to his churches from the restoration of the chancel at St. Saviour’s Anglican to a new building for the congregation of Cadboro Bay United Church.

I should add that over the years a number of his commissions were brilliantly documented by the well-known Vancouver architectural photographer, John Fulkner.  Fulkner’s photo archive was recently accepted into the permanent collection of the West Vancouver Museum.

Alan was a leading influence in his profession during the formative years of post-war Modernism on the West Coast.  He was deeply respected by his peers, a fact signaled by their election of him as a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada in 1998.  He was a mentor to many students, in particular those he taught during his three-year appointment as associate professor at the UBC School of Architecture where along with a small group of faculty he pioneered the overseas study tours.  The first one to Venice is now institution at the school.

In concluding, I’d like to prompt you to contemplate the fact that downtown Victoria is bookended by two of Alan’s projects that both ran almost the length of his career.  And they couldn’t be more different.  At one end, on Blanshard and Bay Streets, the Island Farms Dairy:  a large-scale industrial plant.  At the other, on the harbour, his 40 year plus restoration project, the Parliament Buildings. At the Dairy, an essay in high modern functionalism, a series of abstract cubist forms achieves an almost magical disappearing act for such a massive imposition … his response to a very sensitive location marking the entrance to Victoria’s urban core.  In contrast, of course, and thanks to Alan, the monumental Parliament Building today still hold their own at the City’s harbour front entrance.

Alan’s work is a testament to his passionate vision for good design, always inspired by both a fine-grained sense-of-place, and a radical humanism.  

Martin Segger, B.A., Dip. Ed., M.Phil.

University of Victoria | UVIC  –  Department of History in Art

 

36 Hours in Victoria, British Columbia

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The following article recently appeared in The New York Times:

On lush Vancouver Island, this urban jewel offers innovative restaurants, gorgeous parks and gardens, and museums that celebrate the area’s many cultures.

The Inner Harbour, with the majestic Parliament buildings in the background. Credit Ema Peter for The New York Times

By Suzanne Carmick, New York Times

This compact, eminently walkable city, set amid the breathtaking beauty and bounty of Vancouver Island, is lauded as one of the world’s top smallurban destinations. Beyond the picture-perfect downtown waterfront, British Columbia’s capital is an exhilarating blend of cultures, from Canadian and First Nations to Chinese and European (especially British). There are three universities, thriving arts and cultural institutions, significant historic preservation, a celebrated local food scene and Canada’s mildest climate: That means year-round forest visits, biking and golf; gardens galore (daffodils in February); even beehives downtown (at the Fairmont Empress hotel; atop the Harbour Air floating terminal). There is wildness too: “bear jams” disrupting traffic, cougar sightings and soaring eagles, towering ancient trees, log-strewn beaches and distant snowy peaks.

Friday

1) 3 p.m. EARLY DAYS

The blocks north of the Empress and west of Douglas Street, including Chinatown, comprise the Old Town. Start at Bastion Square and Wharf Street, overlooking the harbor, where James Douglas founded Fort Victoria in 1843 as an outpost of the Hudson’s Bay Company. This area became the heart of commerce, industry and government, swelling in size after the 1858 Fraser Gold Rush drew thousands of immigrants. Next to the Old Victoria Customs House is a grassy overlook with a display telling the history of British settlement and the indigenous Lekwungen people. Check out the lively Bastion Square pedestrian area of shops, restaurants and cafes, music and markets; then, on Government Street, browse through Munro’s Books, situated in a century-old bank, and founded in 1963 by the Nobel Prize-winning Canadian writer Alice Munro and her then-husband. Detour through Trounce Alley (note the 125-year-old gaslights), then walk east on Fort Street to La Taqueria to snack on Mexican tacos amid festive music and colorful tiles. A juicy carnitas taco with pickled red onions and salsa is 3 Canadian dollars, or about $2.35, and a Baja fish taco with cabbage, salsa and chipotle mayonnaise is 6 dollars; wash it down with Mexican fruit soda or local beer.

Munro’s Books, situated in a century-old bank, is a book lover’s paradise. Credit Ema Peter for The New York Times.

2) 6 p.m. ON THE WATERFRONT

The Inner Harbour is where seaplanes, water taxis, kayak outfitters, whale-watching tours, restaurants and festivals can all be found. Sit under the trees and watch the boats and passers-by; then head to the chateau-style Fairmont Empress, one of several luxury hotels built across Canada by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company at the turn of the century. Don’t miss the Q restaurant and bar, with its coffered ceiling, gold and purple accents and portraits of Queen Victoria. An elaborate British tea is served daily in the spacious lobby. The nearby majestic Parliament buildings were erected in 1898 to boost the capital’s profile after Vancouver became the railway’s western terminus. Open daily for touring, they are spectacularly illuminated at night. Thunderbird Park on Belleville Street is a quiet spot among the trees, where a regional First Nations house and totem poles were recreated by the Kwakwaka’wakw master carver Mungo Martin in the 1950s.

3) 8 p.m. THE ART OF DINING

Stepping inside Little Jumbo feels like a warm embrace: The exposed brick, aged wood and glowing copper ceiling take you back in time. The restaurant, which has received accolades for everything from design to food and drinks, is a homage to two New York City saloon owners in the 1860s who championed the art of dining and mixology. Dinner for two — try the warm Halloumi cheese salad, spicy Fernet-roasted nuts and grilled lingcod — including choice British Columbian wines, costs about 131 dollars.

The 19th-century Old Victoria Customs House exemplifies the Second Empire architectural style. Credit Ema Peter for The New York Times

Saturday

4) 9 a.m. URBAN OASIS

Fol Epi bakery is known for its wild-yeast breads, made from milled-on-site organic flours and baked in brick ovens. Choose from an array of loaves, pastries and quiches, then think ahead to a packable lunch of sandwiches. Walk down Douglas Street to Beacon Hill Park: This 200-acre oasis is to Victoria what Central Park is to New York City. The landscape varies from manicured and natural gardens to forest, swampland, lakes, Garry oaks and camas fields (originally planted by the Lekwungen, who harvested the edible bulbs), and includes a children’s farm and a 127-foot totem pole. Great blue herons nest in the towering firs and peacocks strut; relax and listen to birds fussing and fountains gurgling. Make time to tour the nearby Emily Carr House (6.75 dollars); the Victoria-born painter of forests and First Nations scenes spent her childhood gamboling in the park.

5) Noon. ALONG DALLAS ROAD

This scenic stretch on the southern shore of the city, from Fisherman’s Wharf to beyond Ross Bay Cemetery, draws walkers, joggers, bikers and dogs. Have a picnic, clamber down to the beach or simply marvel at the water views and roadside homes. Start at Ogden Point, where interpretive kiosks tell about the Breakwater and the Unity Wall murals painted on both sides, depicting Coast Salish First Nations culture. Walk out to the lighthouse, watching for sea otters and seals. Farther east, past Clover Point, cross the road to Ross Bay Cemetery. This rambling, peaceful resting place of many of Victoria’s notable citizens is also where you’ll find some of the city’s oldest heritage trees, cuttings from which were planted all over the young city (see treesofvictoria.com). Look for deer lying on the spongy grass among the weathered obelisks, statuary and stones in this wondrous place.

Seven modern gallery spaces adjoin an 1889 mansion to form the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. Credit Ema Peter for The New York Times

6) 2 p.m. TO THE GARDEN

From the cemetery, head to the exquisite Abkhazi Garden, tucked away on a quiet block behind rhododendrons and Garry oaks. The tranquil gardens, with their several distinct outdoor “rooms,” were designed to harmonize with the rocky glacial outcroppings and native trees on the hilly property, which includes rock ponds (with mallards and turtles) and the 1950s Modernist summerhouse and former home (now teahouse) of the couple whose love story started it all. Suggested fee: 10 dollars (includes guide).

7) 4 p.m. AFTERNOON ART

At the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, seven modern gallery spaces adjoin an 1889 mansion that once served as the museum. On permanent display are works by Emily Carr and an impressive Asian collection and garden — second only to that of the Royal Ontario Museum. There are amber and ivory carvings, a Japanese Shinto shrine, and a Chinese Ming dynasty bell presented to Victoria in 1903. Admission is 13 dollars.

The Bastion Square pedestrian area is filled with shops, restaurants and cafes. Credit Ema Peter for The New York Times

8) 6 p.m. CHINATOWN

The 19th-century gold rushes and Canadian Pacific Railway construction drew thousands of Chinese immigrants to Victoria, where they settled above Johnson Street. Today, Canada’s oldest Chinatown is a National Historic Site, a small, colorful (especially red, for luck), vibrant community of narrow streets and alleyways, shops and restaurants, beyond the resplendent Gates of Harmonious Interest. The Victoria Chinese Public School, built in 1909, is still used to teach Chinese language classes. Climb the stairs to the top floor of the Yen Wo Society building to see the oldest active Chinese temple in Canada, honoring the sea deity Tam Kung.

9) 8 p.m. DOWN TO EARTH DINNER

Olo (meaning hungry in Chinook) serves up serious farm-to-table fare with a nod to the region’s cultural diversity. The space is comfortable and rustic, with warm light emanating from hanging spheres of loosely wound wooden strips. A recent meal included crisp Hakurei turnip salad, garganelli pasta with a meaty sauce, and a dreamy dessert (rhubarb, salmonberries, elderberry ice cream, fennel macaron), with local wine (about 140 dollars for two).

Agrius, which opened in 2016, is known for its organic, local menu. Credit Ema Peter for The New York Times

Sunday

10) 9 a.m. BRUNCH FOR BREAKFAST

When it opened in 2016, Agrius garnered rave reviews for its organic, local menu. Now the restaurant serves brunch, with hearty buckwheat and rye pancakes, egg dishes (cured salmon scramble with fennel, capers and cream cheese), house-made lamb sausage and pork belly, kale and mushroom Benedict, vegetable pâté, even fried oysters (9 to 21 dollars). In fine weather there is pleasant outdoor seating along a pedestrian way.

11) 11 a.m. ROYAL BC MUSEUM

You could spend hours in this stellar repository of natural and human history, with its singular collection of British Columbia First Nations archaeological materials, as well as provincial archives. The First Peoples gallery includes a totem hall and ceremonial house, an interactive language display and a collection of Argillite (black shale) carvings from Haida Gwaii, while the Old Town recreates period streetscapes and trades — a cannery, hotel, sawmill — even the 1790s ship quarters of George Vancouver. Admission: 17 dollars.

12) 1 p.m. DRIVE UP THE COAST

Beyond the cemetery, Dallas Road takes other names but continues along the dramatic rocky coast through neighborhoods such as upscale Oak Bay, where you’ll find art galleries and British-style pubs and teahouses. Stop at Willows Beach for a walk or a swim, then continue north past the University of Victoria to Mount Douglas Park. You can hike or drive up; either way, the panoramic view is remarkable: across Haro Strait to the San Juan Islands, toward downtown, or across rural Saanich. Hungry again? Head back to town for Foo Asian Street Food, where a hearty, steaming bowl of curried noodle stir fry with pork and shrimp, prepared while you watch, costs 14 dollars. Alternatively, the charming Venus Sophia Tea Room serves organic teas and sweets — Cream Earl Grey with scones, cream and jam costs 14 dollars — and vegetarian lunch items.

Victoria, British Columbia’s Quaint Capital, Finds a New Cool

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The following article recently appeared in The Wall Street Journal:

Hipness has infiltrated picturesque Victoria, where wine bars and pot now mingle with Edwardian manors.

HOMECOMING QUEEN – Q Bar at Victoria’s revamped Fairmont Empress Hotel.

By Taras Grescoe

THE VIEW of Victoria’s Inner Harbour hasn’t changed much since Rudyard Kipling described it as a mix of Sorrento, Hong Kong and the Isle of Wight “with some Himalayas for the background,” during his lengthy sojourn at the grand Empress Hotel in 1908. Ships still dock beneath the massive columns of the Canadian Pacific Railway terminal, though the steamships have been replaced by high-speed ferries on the three-hour run to Seattle.

For years, mainlanders dismissed the city on Vancouver Island’s south coast as a picturesque haven for honeymooners and retirees, “the newlywed and the nearly dead.” But lately, Victoria has developed a hipper side. Tech companies now occupy brick warehouses, craft distilleries share streetfronts with traditional tea rooms, and marijuana dispensaries are popping up among the old Edwardian mansions. At times it feels like a Portland North, set amid the architectural glories of a one-time imperial outpost: a mashup of traditional and alternative, with a sneak-up-sideways charm.

The historic heart of Victoria’s walkable downtown is Bastion Square, where the city was born as a Hudson’s Bay Company trading post in 1843. Now lined with pubs and home to a popular Sunday farmers market, the square’s oldest buildings date to the 1860s, after the discovery of gold on the Fraser River transformed little Fort Victoria into a boomtown thronged by American miners and outfitters.

Prepping at Agrius. PHOTO: RUSH JAGOE

The Cantonese migrants who followed them from San Francisco founded Canada’s first Chinatown, and on Fisgard Street, the neon signs of the Don Mee Restaurant and the Fantan Café continue to lure patrons to old-school feasts of Szechuan seafood and sweet-and-sour pork. Fan Tan Alley, whose three-foot-wide entrance forced the local constabulary to enter single file when raiding its louche gambling and opium dens, now houses vendors of used records, handmade chocolates and Dr. Martens boots.

The streets around Lower Johnson, a strip where prospectors once spent their gold in saloons, brothels, and outfitters’ shops, have undergone a similar transformation. In the district, redubbed LoJo, brick facades are now home to chic boutiques and specialty shops like Silk Road Tea, a mix of day spa and high-end tea room. Off Yates Street, Little Jumbo restaurant channels the district’s past with a down-the-hall entrance and speakeasy vibe, where an aperol-and-absinthe cocktail makes a bracing prelude to delicate local oysters and lightly grilled lingcod.

Change has come even to the venerable Fairmont Empress hotel. After a two-year, $40-million-plus renovation, the trademark ivy has been stripped from the facade—the family of raccoons who called it home had to be relocated—transforming its former flag deck into a terrace with a privileged harbor view. A rooftop garden now yields the herbs and edible flowers on the menu at Q at the Empress, and four beehives on the grounds hone the honey served with scones and clotted cream at high tea.

There is still plenty of old Victoria to savor. The hotel’s unapologetically colonialist Bengal Lounge has been left untouched: punkah fans still sway from the mahogany-inlaid ceiling over murals of dhows and elephant-borne rajahs on the Ganges. And the corridors of the sixth floor—where guests continue to report sightings of the ghost of a chambermaid who plunged to her death in the 1930s—are still as crooked and atmospheric as ever.

The Milkman’s Daughter, a décor shop in Victoria’s Chinatown. PHOTO: JANIS NICOLAY

By contrast, Victoria’s alternative side thrives in the funky Fernwood neighborhood east of downtown. In the last decade, neighborhood associations have spearheaded the transformation of the buildings around Fernwood Square. An old Methodist church became the multi-staged Belfry Theatre; the Fernwood Inn, a former dive bar, was reborn as a pub serving local ales and ciders. The once-rundown building across from the Inn now houses the Crossroads, an espresso bar that has become an unofficial community meeting place, and the relaxed Stage Wine Bar, where one can dine on small plates of cauliflower pakora, Salt Spring Island mussels, and gnocchi.

A stroll in the surrounding streets takes visitors past book exchange boxes outside century-old Arts-and-Crafts bungalows, a community garden on the former grounds of a schoolhouse, and an ice cream parlor called Cold Comfort offering “Hoyne’s Dark Matter,” an improbable but successful combination of vanilla ice cream and brown ale.

A 10-minute walk south of downtown is the tranquil James Bay neighborhood, site of the childhood home of Emily Carr. It has been turned into a museum commemorating the life of the author and painter, who returned from a trip to France to create striking, Post-Impressionist takes on northern Pacific landscapes. View Carr’s deeply Canadian canvases of listing Haida and Gitxsan totem poles in the nearby Royal B.C. Museum.

In the Rockland neighborhood, perched on the highest point within the city limits is Craigdarroch, a late-19th-century castle built for Scottish railway-and-coal baron Robert Dunsmuir. The Downton Abbey-style splendor of its parlors, paneled with Spanish mahogany and Hawaiian koa, give way on upper floors to unadorned walls and bare floor boards. Dubbed “King Grab” by a local newspaper, which cast him as more robber baron than genuine royalty, Mr. Dunsmuir died a few months before the castle was completed, and never lived there.

The fifth-floor turret, with a view of ocean breakers and snow-capped Mount Baker, looks out onto what is probably Victoria’s greatest urban asset: the tip of Vancouver Island on which it perches. Its location in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains means sunny and dry summers (windmill palm trees grow in local front yards), and access to spectacular north Pacific ecosystems start right from downtown.

Victoria Distillers’s gin-based Empress & Tonic.

An excellent way to explore those outdoor wonders is by rented bicycle. Heading west out of downtown on the Galloping Goose and the Lochside Trail, well-marked and level bike routes follow old railway right-of-ways. Along the way the outdoor terrace of Sea Cider provides a stop for a light lunch, with high-octane ciders produced from the 50 kinds of heirloom apples that grow in the surrounding orchards. Farther down the end of the trail is Victoria Distillers, a craft distillery in Sidney, 15 miles north of downtown. A tasting of Empress 1908 gin, infused with dried flowers from Thailand that make it turn from deep indigo to pink when tonic is added, is a welcome reward for a long afternoon of pedaling.

The Union Club Travel Club Is Pleased to Announce…

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There is ongoing enthusiasm among experienced members interested in hosting small-group trips for fellow members to bond and enjoy as a benefit of membership. The UC Travel Club encourages you, dear reader, to come forward to us with your own proposals, if you have a trip or an outing that you are familiar with that would provide pleasure to our membership.  You could propose to host a group or just tell us all about the opportunities out there.

We are pleased to announce the following future hosted trips for your consideration. As new trips are proposed and vetted we will update the list.

2018:  Day trip to Othello Tunnels on Kettle Valley Rail Trail at Hope

2018 or 2019:   Art Tour of London

2018 or 2019:   Experience Yukon!

2019:   Wine and Culture Tour of Italy

2019:   Great Migration and Highlights of South Africa

2019:   Via Rail Winter Wonderland Cross-Canada Trip

2019 or 2020:  Self-drive Canal trip in France

2020:   The Road From the Past: Traveling Through History in France

 

EXPERIENCE YUKON 

Possibly for later this year or 2019.  Presented previously at the monthly UCTC meeting on March 26, 2018

Hosted by member David Leverton, Executive Director of the Maritime Museum of B.C.  David has a long history of close museum and cultural workings with First Nations of the area. He will host a set of unique experiences in Yukon that his special relationships and knowledge will facilitate. While ready with a proposed format, he is open to suggestion by early responders with interest. Be sure to see his presentation for more details of the moment. For expressions of interest or questions contact:

Rob d’Estrubé at robdestrube@gmail.com

Cathy Scott at Cathy@departurestravel.com

David Leverton at dleverton@telus.net

 

ART TOUR OF LONDON 

Possibly for later this year or 2019.   To be presented at the monthly UCTC meeting  on April 29, 2018.

Hosted by UC member and art tour expert Lara Tomaszewska, PhD  ISA ,this adventure is forming up to comprise a comprehensive guided art appreciation tour in select renowned venues and opportunities in London. The trip will feature the tour over several initial days of arrival and then allow participants complete flexibility for unhosted enjoyment of London or other destinations for as long as desired. Opportunities will exist to stay in reciprocal clubs. Further details to be released, but early responders with interest can have a hand in shaping the details.  For expressions of interest and questions contact:

Rob d’Estrubé at robdestrube@gmail.com

Cathy Scott at Cathy@departurestravel.com

Lara Tomaszewska, PhD, ISA 

OPENWORK Art Advisory

www.openworkart.com

+ 1 250 213 2111

+ 44 (0)747 031 4475

 

WINE AND CULTURE TOUR OF ITALY

Possibly for 2019 . To be presented at the monthly UCTC meeting on May 28, 2018.

Hosted by members Kerry Brown and Richard Larkin, this tour would be based on the premier wines of Italy and some little-known fabulous ones, likely Tuscany and Piedmont, visiting such wineries in Chianti, Montelcino (Brunello region), many of which have accommodation and/or restaurants with meals paired with their wines.  The northern part of Italy is unique – lakes and mountains and not often traveled; UNESCO World Heritage sites, good wine and food. We would also see if we could tie in any affiliate clubs for a stay or at the very least a meal. We could tie in Rome which is a perennial favourite with lots of things to do/see/experience. For expressions of interest or questions contact:

Rob d’Estrubé at robdestrube@gmail.com

Cathy Scott at Cathy@departurestravel.com

Kerry Brown at kerry@successbizcoach.com

GREAT MIGRATION AND HIGHLIGHTS OF SOUTHERN AFRICA 

September 2019

Hosted by member David Bate, Victoria resident turned long-time South African entrepreneur and traveler, his tour is described as follows: Experience the greatest annual wildlife event on Earth.  Join a discerning group of Union Club members on a trip to Southern Africa in September 2019 to witness the arrival of millions of zebras, wildebeests and other antelopes at the end of their journey across the plains of East Africa from the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania to the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya.  This annual pilgrimage is known as the Great Migration and is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that should top the bucket list of every travel enthusiast.  The 15-day trip includes highlights of South Africa, Victoria Falls and Kenya.  Touch down in South Africa and begin your journey with an introduction to Cape Town and visit to iconic Robben Island, the Alcatraz of Africa, where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 prison years.  Move into the heart of South Africa’s nearby winelands of Stellenbosch, Franschoek and Paarl and spend two days exploring some of the best wines and cuisine the New World has to offer, including at least two restaurants listed in the World’s Top 100 restaurants.  Fly into Victoria Falls and experience the largest waterfall and one of the wonders of the natural world.  Return to Johannesburg and spend a day touring the Apartheid Museum and Soweto.  Enjoy an overnight train journey on Rovos Rail, rated as the most luxurious train in the world, from Pretoria to Durban with stops to tour the Kwa-Zulu battlefields where figures such as Winston Churchill, Mahatma Ghandi and Jan Smuts all participated in the same battle. You will also get a brief taste of a safari before disembarking in Durban for a flight to the Maasai Mara and the heart of the migration.  During your four night sojourn in the Maasai Mara, witness river crossings where hundreds of thousands of antelopes and zebras test their luck against lurking crocodiles.  Watch packs of lions, leopards, hyenas and wild dogs track the herds and, if your timing is right, see a kill in action from the safety of your safari vehicle.  During your down time, enjoy luxurious ‘Out of Africa’ styled tented camps where butlers cater to your every whim and rose petals await you in the bath drawn in your old fashioned iron bath tub.  Dine on gourmet meals and fine wines that introduce the culinary delights of Africa.  Options available for extended tours to South Africa (golfing tours, garden routes) Namibia (sand dunes and Skeleton Coast), Botswana (Okavango Delta), and Mauritius, Zanzibar, The Maldives and Madagascar (all great beaches), among other locations.  This trip will be guided by Dr. David Bate, a Union Club member who has lived in South Africa for over 20 years and owns wine cellars in the heart of South Africa’s wine country.  Space is limited.  If this trip piques your interest, please reach out to:

Rob d’Estrubé at robdestrube@gmail.com

Cathy Scott at Cathy@departurestravel.com

WALKING DAY-TRIP TO THE OTHELLO TUNNELS ON THE KETTLE VALLEY RAILROAD TRAIL AND COQUIHALLA RIVER AT HOPE, BC    

Proposed for later this spring or summer.

Hosted by Rob d’Estrube this will be a simple ferry/bus ride to Hope with lunch and an opportunity to walk the trail along the Coquihalla River and through the tunnels. Travel site ratings are 4.5+ out of 5. Easy walking and available in a 1K or 4.5K version along the rail trail. Easy possibility of both distances being accommodated in the same trip. Timing will be determined by member input. To express an interest in the trip and answer questions contact:

Rob d’Estrubé at robdestrube@gmail.com

Cathy Scott at Cathy@departurestravel.com

VIA RAIL WINTER WONDERLAND FIRST CLASS ALL-INCLUSIVE PRIVATE-CABIN RAIL JOURNEY ACROSS CANADA 

Proposed for winter of early 2019.

Hosted by Rob d’Estrube this trip is from Vancouver to Toronto during the season where all the sights are snow-clad wonderlands, taking advantage of the lowest rates for travel plus discounts for seniors. Great for single travelers, no single supplements, as there are cabins for one as well as for two or more. All meals (very good) included and 4 + days of wonderful relaxation and bonding with members. Plenty of room to move around so we aren’t glued together. Stay on or travel further when arrived in Toronto.  The destination is not important here, nor is the schedule: the immersive journal is all. To express an interest in the trip and answer questions contact:

Rob d’Estrubé at robdestrube@gmail.com

Cathy Scott at Cathy@departurestravel.com

A SELF-DRIVE CANAL TRIP WITH MEMBERS AND FRIENDS IN FRANCE

Proposed for 2019 or 2020

Hosted by Rob d’Estrubé, this will be a two-week bit of life in the slow-lane through some backwoods of France. Depending on the canal and the size of the locks we will limit the group to 12, likely divided between 2 or maybe 3 boats. Single travelers welcome as there are a variety of accommodations.  The journey is everything here, the French Immersion experience transcends place and time: You will neither be in the here nor the now: you will be “in the present”.  We will drive our own boats, cook our own food aboard or dine out along the way as desired. Happy hours are long and usually all on one boat. Stories, lies and exaggerations, through the blur of wine and cheese, replace the real world. This will be perhaps your most relaxing and engaging holiday ever. Quaint villages and towns, chateaux and market places abound at our side. Have semi-independent days away from the boat if you are fit enough to cycle or walk down the towpath: you’ll never get lost. Read a book while the world goes by but be ready to help in the locks. It’s easy work and you can get off and explore the lock keepers’ gardens. Tie up anywhere between locks for the evening and let the birds serenade you in a countryside without road noise. Acquainted members will become fast friends. To express an interest in the trip and answer questions contact:

Rob d’Estrubé at robdestrube@gmail.com

Cathy Scott at Cathy@departurestravel.com

THE ROAD FROM THE PAST: TRAVELING THROUGH HISTORY IN FRANCE  

Proposed for 2020.  A truly unique and once-in-a-lifetime exploration.

Hosted by Rob d’Estrubé, this adventure will follow closely the famous book by the same name written by Ina Caro, historian and gourmet food and wine writer. We would be a small group traveling for about 3 weeks, professionally driven and guided. The history of France will be discovered in the locations where events and paradigms took place. Reading the book will reveal the excitement ahead and the book will be a constant companion on the trip. Quoting from the NY Times here a partial review of the book and what the trip will essentially offer:

“She begins in the ruins at Orange and Nîmes, and then ushers us through blood and fire, religious wars, feudal rivalries and monarchical madness, into the light of the Renaissance, up to Louis XIV’s punishment of his superintendent of finance, Nicolas Fouquet, for the in-the-king’s-face magnificence of Vaux-le-Vicomte. And thus we visit Provence, the Languedoc, the Dordogne, the Loire Valley and the Ile-de-France.

Caro brings the reader along gently, with precise information on how long it takes to drive from one place to another, what roads to choose, how much time to budget for this or that sight; she is also helpful on where to linger, on what towns are pleasant places to have a long coffee or a picnic, and which are dull or overcrowded or seem to have metamorphosed into parking lots.

Although the book is written for visitors who don’t know France well, it is packed with information even for people who do. Caro does not seek to be exhaustive about hotels or restaurants, but she tells us about the ones that have become favorites and about others that have failed her test.

She approaches every new step visually – what’s the view from the hotel or restaurant, what can be seen and measured and studied before it is visited.

Caro is an opinionated traveler…taking no guff from unpleasant restaurateurs and snotty tour guides, and refreshingly direct about what to avoid…etc.”  The route is essentially C shaped as we start in Roman times in Provence and progress in time West and North and then East to Paris for the Revolution.

There is at least one copy of the book in the UC library for your perusal but is easily available online.

Interested early responders can have a hand in formulating many aspects of the trip, like timing, as well as determining price points for levels of accommodation and cuisine where practical.

Rob d’Estrubé has traveled extensively in France and is directly related to many of the nastier characters in this history. To express an interest in the trip and answer questions contact:

Rob d’Estrubé at robdestrube@gmail.com

Cathy Scott at Cathy@departurestravel.com

The Union Club Travel Club (UCTC) Lives!

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The Union Club Travel Club (UCTC) Lives!

The UCTC is a member-driven resource existing independently from Union Club administration and committee direction.  As such, the UCTC will operate with the blessing of the General Committee and management but with a firewall saving the Union Club harmless from liabilities.

The UCTC is formed altruistically to offer at least the following:

  • Information on interesting and worthy DIY travel experiences.
  • Presentations from experienced members who want to host small groups on exciting travels.
  • Presentations from members who will recount adventures.
  • Offer a variety of member-hosted trips throughout the year and be the central reservation resource.
  • Offer an optional central travel agency service to facilitate ease of planning of hosted trips.
  • Hold monthly presentations on the last Monday of the month coinciding with opportunities to enjoy the weekly buffet beforehand.
  • Blog informational updates and articles.

The UCTC has no commercial interest in the offerings but will provide travel agency services and advice or members’ insights as requested or needed.  The hosted trips may be structured to allow free or discounted travel to hosts if numbers allow.  Discounts, where available to group travel, can be applied. The optional travel agency of record will be Cathy Scott’s Destinations Travel but individuals can retain their own agencies to work with the host or the agency of record to facilitate arrangements if logistics allow.

As the Union Club website and reservation system evolve we hope to be able to access the service to make it easy to confirm or express interest in proposed activities. At the present moment questions, expressions of interest or reservations for any particular out-of-club event need to be addressed to either the event hosts or the UCTC committee. The main contact members are Cathy Scott and Rob d’Estrubé.

Cathy Scott  Cathy@departurestravel.com

Rob d’Estrubé  robdestrube@gmail.com

Jon Watson  rory55858@gmail.com

Leda Townshend  ledanell@shaw.ca

Barrie Hewstan  hewstan@shaw.ca

Please continue to regularly search the blog for updated information about presentations and trip proposals.

The Union Club Renovations & Eclectic Art Collections…. a Visit Recorded By One Happy Participant

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The following article appeared in the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria’s April/May newsletter “Happenings”, written by one of the participants from the tour:

It was the morning after that scary tsunami warning, and the rain was still lashing, the wind was howling, and it was frigid by Victoria’s weather standards. Despite it all an intrepid group of Associates had accepted an invitation to visit Victoria’s iconic Union Club to see some of its extensive art collection, and learn a little of the history.

Entering through the heavy brass-studded front doors, our world was transformed – thick carpet underfoot, rich mahogany paneling, a log fire exuding the comforting smell of pine, percolating coffee wafting in the air – we had made the right decision to emerge from the comfort of our homes that morning. Having shed our dripping coats and discarded our turned-inside-out umbrellas, we made our way to the Ballroom to meet our host and guide Martin Segger.

As Yvonne McKenzie in introducing Mr.Segger related his many accomplishments and experiences, we knew we were in for an interesting visit. He holds degrees from UVic (English plus Education Diploma) and the University of London (Renaissance Cultural Studies), had an extensive administrative and academic career at UVic in the areas of Galleries Collections and History of Art, served as President of the Pacific NW Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians and President of the Commonwealth Association of Museums, and consulted and taught historic preservation planning in South America and Africa. Detailing his fascinating career would require a whole article. And now here he was, a good friend of the Art Gallery, the Honorary Art Curator of the Union Club, playing a major role in the restoration of the Club’s iconic building and care and nurturing of the art collection – and he was prepared to share some of this with us.

So, to a little of the Club’s history. Founded in 1879 by a group of prominent gentlemen in the city, it soon outgrew the first two buildings it had occupied as those early members canvassed friends they considered “congenial as members” to join. Building of the current structure started in 1910 and the first celebratory event, a Grand Ball, took place in 1913. Designed by Francis Rattenbury, it followed very much the beaux arts style popular in San Francisco at the time with a terra cotta exterior and curved stone window and door frames. The interior is a reflection of the colonial era in which it was built, as was the early collection of art. The Club was to be open to all – men that is; ladies had their Alexandra Club elsewhere and it was to be many years before they could join the Union Club as bona fide members. Mr. Segger noted that no Chinese names appear on the membership lists of that time. Early members were professionals, interested in the arts, and often their entrance fee was the gift of a piece of art, sometimes their own work, sometimes purchased pieces they thought appropriate.  Unfortunately, there is no record of when early items in this Legacy Collection were donated or purchased but as they reflect the times and interests of those founding members, so do more recent and current acquisitions reflect changes over the past 100 years.

Extensive renovations to both the exterior and interior of the building have been underway for the past five years. The exterior terra cotta cladding and seismic upgrading of the cornices is complete, and a photographic exhibition of all this work is exhibited in the McKenzie Room. The building’s interior is also now almost complete, and we were aware of how much had been done in the Ballroom since our AGM held there some months ago. Two recently acquired Toni Onley paintings, his 1968 Fort Rodd Hill and 1991 Flowers in a Window, have been hung over the fireplaces at either end of the room, pleasingly modern and complementary.

As we toured through the building our knowledgeable guide pointed out interesting details. The sparkling chandeliers in the Ballroom were original, having been dismantled, painstakingly cleaned, and reassembled by a local Victoria company. In a foyer a display of Chinese ceramics and Stephen Lowe’s watercolour, Serene Chinese Landscape, indicate emerging Asian participation in the Club’s interests and activities. In the McKenzie Lounge hangs a life-size painting by Jack Wilkinson of Henry de Zwager, a Club member who successfully ran a restaurant in an adjacent building. In the Reading Room there’s an eclectic collection; on the walls hang two sketches by Myfanwy Pavelic and three works by indigenous artist Arthur Vickers; over the fireplace is a reminder of the history of the building, a painting of a stern Judge Matthew Baillie Begbie.

Continuing our walkabout, in the McGregor Bar we saw the collection of animal trophy heads, much admired at the time for the taxidermy skills used to preserve these creatures from far-off lands, and an indication of members’ widening travels. On the walls of the staircase leading to the lower floor a full-length portrait of J. A. Mara, President of the Club from 1909-1913, appeared to be watching us intently. Later going upstairs to the third floor some in our group used the elevator which we learned is the oldest still in use in Victoria (the staircase, steep and narrow, seemed more stable to this writer!). On the third floor level we were shown a charming outdoor patio overlooking Humboldt Street with great views of the harbour, and then off a long corridor extensively lined with a great variety of art work including a watercolour by Robert Amos depicting the front of the Club’s building, we took the opportunity to peek into one of the 21 bedroom suites, an unoccupied one I would hasten to add.

Our tour had been a fascinating glimpse at the Club’s many treasures but time was of the essence, and we returned to the Reading Room where they had set up a table in a secluded corner for us where we enjoyed a delicious lunch. Mr. Segger joined us briefly for lunch, and Yvonne took the opportunity to thank him for our fascinating morning and gave him – you guessed it – a copy of The Book of Days.

The Auction: “Thank You” to All Who Attended

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On March 9th, the Club hosted “The Auction” in support of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. It was a fun evening with over 115 Members and art-lovers attending. Club Member Alison Ross, owner of Kilshaw’s Auctioneers (pictured above), presided over the sale of 46 lots, entertaining the guests during the introductions and bidding on every lot. More than $15,500 was raised for the Art Gallery. Brilliantly done Alison! The funds will help support making AGGV’s collection more available online to our community.

The Auction was held under the Union Club’s Art+Fare banner. Art+Fare4 will be held on September 22nd and will have an exciting, revised format for the evening. To date, Art+Fare has raised over $65,000 for the Children and Family Programs at the AGGV.

Save the date for Art+Fare4 – it will be fun as the Union Club continues its historic commitment to the arts in Victoria!!!

If you would like to help plan the event, please contact Art+Fare4 Chair, Heather Kohler, at HeatherK@artandfare.com. There is a range of sponsorships available for A+F4. For more information, please contact Heather or Bob Coulter at robertacoulter@mac.com.