Description of Historic Place

536 Yates Street is a small two-storey brick commercial building on the north side of the street. It can be identified by its wooden storefront featuring decorative leaded and stained glass windows, and by quoining on the upper storey.

Heritage Value

536 Yates Street adds value to Victoria's Old Town District because it is the earliest surviving example of masonry architecture on Yates Street. At one time the only brick building in the vicinity, this small commercial building’s scale and architectural detailing are a monument to Victoria's earliest evolution from wooden fort to refined permanent city. Heritage value also lies in its compatibility with and contribution to the collection of buildings of a similar scale which characterize this part of Yates Street.

Source: City of Victoria Planning and Development Department

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of 536 Yates Street include:
- Its two-storey massing and flat roofed form.
- Its original brick masonry.
- Architectural detailing relevant to its original design, including upper-storey windows with inverted-U hoods, wooden storefront with decorative leaded and stained glass windows and cast iron columns, original casement windows, window joinery, recessed panels in the masonry, and quoining on the upper storey.