Postmodernism in Victoria - Should we be starting to care?
If you asked almost anyone in Victoria what their least favourite building is, you would definitely get a large variety of opinions, but I would be willing to bet that a unifying theme between a large majority of them would be the choice of a postmodernist buildings. Some of the usual ones you will hear listed will be the Victoria Bay Centre or the Jack Davis building. These two buildings are very different and one wouldn’t necessarily think that they are of the same architectural style and they are and they aren’t. Postmodernism or PoMo is a very wide umbrella, maybe almost as diverse as modernism, in its variation.
The Royal Institute of British Architecture (RIBA) defines postmodernism as:
“Postmodernism is an eclectic, colourful style of architecture and the decorative arts that appeared from the late 1970s and continues in some form today.
It emerged as a reaction to Modernism and the Modern Movement and the dogmas associated with it.”
One of the issues with postmodernism, in comparison to modernism is that it is more challenging to see right away that the building you are looking at is in that style. Still chances are if the building is not made up of stark geometric shapes with sparse decoration and it has been built in the last 50 years, it is a postmodernist building. For me, the key attributes, certainly in the Victoria examples that we will talk about, are colourful and usually have some adornaments that relate back to older aspects of the city or other big architectural movements. In Victoria you will see a lot of teal green domes and spires.
I will be honest, like most Victorians, if I tried to find my least favourite building, their is a good chance it would also be a post-modernist building. That said, I get worried about building styles especially when they are largely disliked because it puts them at risk of not being missed if removed or altered. A great recent example of this with a modernist building, is Sutton Place West, which despite being one of the very, very few examples of a brutalist modern building in Victoria, was allowed to be painted. I know that these are not beautiful buildings but in painting it, the building lost its most signature attribute. There was a time when Victorian and Edwardian buildings in Victoria were considered ugly, out-of-style and worthless and we lost many buildings to that dislike. On reflection now, it seems bizarre to us, especially given the aura around heritage buildings in the city, but it’s true. If you read my article on modernism in Victoria I cover many of our recent losses and soon to be losses from that movement.
One of the reasons that we see some of the dislike for post-modernism is likely a very British Columbia reason, leaky condos. Many of the buildings built in this style used a fine stucco and for those that have lived in BC through the 1990’s and after are aware that this was one of the outside attributes of failures of these buildings (to be clear, it was not the cause). I think that this negative experience likely makes us have a less favourable view of this architectural movement even though the linkage is not there. Also now, as these buildings start to age, they need to be maintained and that is not happening to the extent that many of them need.
I thought we should look at a few examples of it the movement that may be controversial or even perhaps not an obvious part of it and give you my thoughts on them. If you are wanting more info on any of the buildings listed, I will again recommend Martin Segger’s amazing compendium, Exploring Victoria’s Architecture, that I mentioned in my last article.
Ocean Pointe Resort
I know this may be a controversial start to this list. The Songhees, with a few recent exceptions, is almost all PoMo and terrible examples for the most part at that. I would say that Songhees biggest failing was not trying to create any commercial aspect that would animate the area rather than the buildings themselves. They feel like like suburban mistakes that fell into a city context. The one exception for me is the Delta Ocean Pointe Resort built in 1990. This hotel, while certainly a relatively recent building, recalls both aspects of the CPR Hotels and also the gothic mansion at the same time. It is clearly not intended to be a replica of either of these types of building but instead just has attributes that make your mind recall those type of places. It is certainly a grand hotel and its location, juxtaposed across the harbour from the Empress is very purposeful. The property is well laid out and while I would love to see some better activation along the waterfront space, it is a stunning place for events.
The Sussex Building
While perhaps some might not immediately associate the Sussex Building with PoMo, it may be the best example we have in Victoria and perhaps one of the best built PoMo commercial buildings built in the last couple of decades. It was built in 1995. The building has mostly a brick facade as opposed to a fine stucco which gives it weight and authority. The building is meant to recall some of the best art deco high-rises of the early 20th century and like the OPR also has a gothic element. The soaring glass windows at the centre of each facade and the see through spire are all perfect PoMo attributes that link to the past while not being too one the nose. The Sussex building is one that I hope will always stand above Douglas Street.
Centra Gas Building
The Centra Gas was built in 1992 and while it may not still carry that moniker officially, it is how it has become to be known. This building sits on the corner of Douglas Street and Fisgard Street just at the northern edge of downtown. This is one of my favourite PoMo buildings downtown because it so clearly borrows from its neighbours, but in a way that both compliments and yet does its own thing that works very well. There is a brick facade along the western face that links it to the Fairfield Hotel to its south; while the strong light framing of the windows above pay homage to the Hudson Bay Building to its north.
Jack Davis Building
Built the same year as the Centra Gas Building, the Jack Davis building, might be the most controversial one I have on this list. I have real sore spot for this office building though. I think it is because it shows such deference for the streamline modern look but still has clear PoMo aspects of whimsy, such as the prism of dark glass shooting out from its south face and the corner that is removed to create an entrance way on the eastern side. That entrance way is also home to a great piece of sculpture which I believe represent the Fraser and Thompson Rivers. I know this building has many detractors, mostly that denounce its linear size, but I think that it seem over emphasized before as it sat alone at the very edge of downtown. Now, as it sits slowly being enveloped into a series of residential towers, the scale of the building seems lessoned. I also think it could do with a cleaning or perhaps a new coat of pink paint to bring it back to its early 90’s glory.
I could keep going on and talk about the Canada Post Building at Yates and Douglas or the Yates Building that contains the old Atlas Theatre Facade, or the Manhattan or Metropolitan buildings in Harris Green but maybe I can do follow-up PoMo post another time. I really just wanted to start having us think about the fact that while maybe not as loved as some of the Victorian, Edwardian or Modern buildings, that someday these PoMo buildings will be over 50 years old too and many will think it is time to get rid of them. But they do represent an era and personally I think that they can be both beautiful and a little fun.
If you have a favourite PoMo building in Victoria, I would love to know which one and where it is.