Peninsula Daily News
news sources
VICTORIA — The Maritime Museum of British Columbia, a popular attraction off Government Street for nearly a half-century, is moving closer to the terminal for the MV Coho from Port Angeles.
Museum officials announced this week they have signed a lease in the renovated CPR Steamship Terminal building, the large Inner Harbour structure with columns that’s just east of the Coho’s Black Ball Ferry Line terminal on Belleville Street.
The museum, which has artifacts and displays reflecting the rich history of the Strait of Juan de Fuca dating back to Victoria’s establishment as a Hudson’s Bay Co. outpost, has been an anchor at Bastion Square in downtown Victoria for 49 years.
A six-month option-to-lease has been signed for the causeway level of the steamship terminal with Greater Victoria Harbour Authority.
‘Absolutely ecstatic’
“We are absolutely ecstatic to have a six-month option in place, with the aim of signing a long-term lease for the Steamship Terminal,” said Jon Irwin, the museum’s executive director.
“We could not ask for a more fitting home than the historic Steamship Terminal.”
The 90-year-old terminal building, which once served as the landing for Canadian Pacific Railroad steamships and later home to the Royal London Wax Museum, was renovated and quake-strengthened in 2011.
The maritime museum, now in a castle-like building on Bastion Square, will close to the public Oct. 21, with a planned reopening in the Steamship Terminal next May.
