Urban Oases of Victoria - The Ogden Point Breakwater
First of all, before we get into today’s post, Happy New Year! I hope that 2021 is a swing point towards the rejuvenation of our city that can benefit all of its inhabitants.
Victoria has many beautiful places to go for a walk, but there are likely few that are as breathtaking and dynamic as a stroll on the Ogden Point breakwater. In my opinion, it’s one of the great places to visit in the city and while there have been some improvements made to it, like so many things in Victoria, we stop short of making it the world class monument that it could be.
For a little background on the breakwater (though not a full history because you can read that here), construction started on it in 1914 and despite the fact that a war was going on, was substantially completed in 1917. While it is one of those things that is just here now, the amount of work that went into its construction is absolutely mind boggling. If you look at the south face of it below the railing, you will see the granite blocks exposed. This is what the breakwater is mostly built of. These blocks are massive, each weigh about 13.5 tonnes and there are more than 10 thousand of them stacked in that snake like line.* The impetus for the building was the completion of the Panama Canal and an expected increase in shipping to the Pacific due to that. Despite that after the First World War and ever onward, Vancouver eclipsed Victoria in its shipping capacity, there was still some substantial industry that relied on the deep water port created by the breakwater. Now, apart from the pre-COVID cruise ships, there is relatively little actual cargo shipping at Ogden Point. It is unlikely that this will change going into the future as the terminal is now effectively cut off from the rest of the industrial parts of the city by the built out residential neighbourhood of James Bay.
As I have said before, I think that the whole “Breakwater District” should be built out and include some substantial buildings and destinations, something that could entice Victorians just as any future cruise ship passengers (if there ever are any again) are enticed off the ships and into downtown. That two way movement would be impetus to finally put in some sort of street car through James Bay. That said, there is already this major destination for the city here with the breakwater itself.
It was only eight years ago that a trip to the breakwater was very different than it is today and perhaps why it has been a sleeper hit of local destinations. Prior to 2013, the breakwater had no handrails, it was still open to the public but a walk came with some risk. As the linked article says, it was due to insurance concerns that actually led to the railings being installed, but in doing so they inadvertently created one of the greatest pieces of urban social infrastructure in the city.
Prior to the installation of the railings the breakwater was popular for a walk with many people and also a good spot to fish a little, but there was the known risk of falling off of it. Many say the lack of railings was a good exclusionary measure and there were lots of complaints when the plan to add railings came forward in that there would all of a sudden be a big increase in users, which has certainly played out and I think an obvious positive outcome. It has allowed a larger group of users to walk the breakwater. Prior to the installation of the railings I had never been out there with my young kids, but afterwards we have walked out there many times. For those that are looking for higher risk adventures, the walkway now stays open on most windy days (with extreme events not included) where you can enjoy the sea spray or even a large wave covering you in water.
So as it is now it is one of the best short seaside walks you can do and there are options to walk in either direction from the end to make it longer (Like Fisherman’s Wharf or Beacon Hill Park). The breakwater is about 800 metres in each direction so as an addition to another destination in the area you can get a decent walk in. In the last couple of months the walkway and bike lanes have opened to the east of the breakwater entrance. I think that the layout for the new area could have been much better as it creates a very short and odd two-way protected bike lane and maintains angled parking, both at the expense of making a pedestrian space that can actually allow people to pass each other safely (COVID or not).
Apart from the lacklustre new pedestrian space to the east, there are other opportunities for improvement. In particular, I would focus on the two spaces to the west and the east of where the breakwater reaches the shore. Looking at this map here, it would be the bow-tie shaped parcels on either side of the Breakwater Cafe (a great place by the way). For the eastern parcel, I would want the breakwater to be obvious from the road through the creation of some sort of gateway. A large piece of public art here would work and a square with seating would make the most sense to me. For the western piece that sits quite a bit lower down from the breakwater there is already some public space but it could be expanded and perhaps activated into a space that could be used as an artisan market for cruise passengers and locals to peruse when we can do that sort of thing again or possibly as a music venue or maybe even both! What makes a great place is when you can fold in as many things as possible for those walking by and there is already the walkway and the cafe, but it to me feels just on the verge of being amazing, kind of like Fisherman’s Wharf before all of the additional space and commercial floats were put in.
I would love to hear if you have any ideas for the breakwater or the areas nearby. Let me know about them in the comments!
After publication a reader sent me a link from the Times Colonist archive with the original tender which shows the makeup of the breakwater. While I say that the breakwater is mostly made out of granite blocks, this document shows that not to be entirely true and that a lot of it is merely piled rubble with the 10 000 granite blocks on top. Here is the link: https://archive.org/stream/dailycolonist57209uvic#page/n15/mode/1up/search/ogden+point+breakwater