Causeway Panorama

Here's a Causeway panorama all the way from the Bateman Centre (white building on the far left) to the Empress Hotel (on the right). This was taken on Thursday, April 2, 2015. I didn't shrink it for the web as much as usual - click it once or twice to see in larger sizes.

Bateman Gallery

To round out our afternoon on the Inner Harbour here is a detail of some of the columns on the classically styled Robert Bateman Centre. This was built originally to serve as the Canadian Pacific Steamship Terminal and was also designed by Francis Mawson Rattenbury, responsible for the design of the buildings in the previous two days' posts.

From Songhees Point 4

Here's a last photo from Songhees Point earlier this week. I can't resist the rain-washed air and late afternoon sun combination. Here we are looking directly across the harbour to the Royal BC Museum, the Legislative Assembly Buildings and the Robert Bateman Centre. The little Harbour Taxi in the foreground will continue to operate until mid-October and then will close down until next May.

New Header

If the above photo looks familiar it is because it is the photo I processed to make the header photo for this blog. It's been up there now for almost exactly three years and someone recently suggested it was time for a change. The main building pictured is now the Robert Bateman Centre but when the photo was taken the bulding had been vacant for about a year and was in the process of being transformed into its present functions. I haven't decided what to use as a new header graphic so any suggestions are welcome.

Robert Bateman Centre

Above and below are photos of one of Victoria's iconic buildings, now called the Robert Bateman Centre. It is, of course, the same building that you see on the top of every page of this blog. It was designed by Francis Rattenbury, who also designed the nearby Legislative Assembly Buildings and the Empress Hotel, as well as other important Victoria Buildings. The building was erected to serve as a steamship terminal for Canadian Pacific Steamships. Later it housed Madame Tussaud's Royal London Wax Museum. Now it has become the home of a gallery of Robert Bateman prints and paintings. Robert Bateman is a world famous artist who specializes in paintings of the natural world. Here is a link to his website and another link to the Robert Bateman Centre itself. I encourage you to click through and take a look at some of his remarkable work. Robert Bateman was born in Toronto but now lives on Saltspring Island, near Victoria.

---

For those of you who might be experiencing deja vu, yes, both these photos are from the archives. The top one was taken in 2009 when the building was still Madame Tussaud's. The bottom one shows the building in 2012 when the Undersea Gardens (the white floating structure) was still nearby. HERE's a link to a photo taken in March of this year that is more contemporary....