Description of Historic Place

The Dairy and Cheese House is the last building left from the former Esquimalt Farm, established in the early 1850s. The nearly flat heritage site rises gently from Goldstream Avenue, past the building and beyond to the north which it then slopes steeply down to Millstream Creek.

The dairy and cheese house is a low, single-storey rectangular structure built of stone approximately 16 feet x 26 feet in size. The stone walls are 18inches think. On the south side is a central wooden door that goes from the ground to under the low 6 foot 6 inch high eaves. The two gable end walls have no openings. The rear wall has a door and window. The gable ends are closed by wood. The roof is wood framed and covered with cedar shingles. The floor is a combination of concrete and dirt.

Heritage Value

The Dairy and Cheese House of Esquimalt Farm is recognized for its historic value as one of the earliest remaining settlement buildings in BC and for its rarity as one of only three buildings that remain from the four Puget's Sound Agricultural Company Farms established near Victoria in the 1850s.

The heritage site is valued because of its tangible connection to the earliest history of settlement on Vancouver Island and importance of agriculture to that settlement.

The masonry construction from the 1850s is rare and the stone construction, still in its original configuration on three walls (East, West and South), is a record of early construction methods used by the original builders of the dairy.

The heritage site is furthered valued as the only tangible link to Captain Langford's original "Colwood" farm from which the surrounding area and City took its name.

Character-Defining Elements

Character defining elements can be found in the heritage site's:
- Single-storey size, with its original low eaves.
- Thick masonry walls for keeping milk and cheese cool.
- Original porter between the stones.
- Position of the doors and windows in the building.
- Height and angle of the roof.
- Thin cedar shingles of the roof covering which are like the original.