Written/sketched 2003: Like the isolated Vancouver houses with their billboards, Victoria has a handful of marooned buildings in transitional areas, especially in the zones between the downtown and the industrial and apartment areas to the north of it. The best one I could discover was 632 Hillside, probably about a hundred years old, on a lot next to Beetle Parts & Repairs. The upper windows of the house look south, over the flat rooftops of a light industrial area toward the Upper Harbour. Does any kind reader know of the house's history – ancient or modern? There are no Victoria houses lurking behind billboards as there are no billboards in downtown Victoria.

I enquired of my Victoria friends for opinions on suitable "Vanishing BC" sites, and was told that the Janion Hotel at 1614 Store Street qualified as a subject – a rare downtown Victoria building that has so far slipped through the net of heritage legislation and developer enthusiasm. Privately owned yet appearing to be abandoned, the Janion is the large brick hulk that dominates the end of Store Street at the Johnson Street bridge. It was built in 1891 next to the terminus of the Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway, assuring a steady clientele for it for many years. In 1983, This Old Town (the City of Victoria Central Area Heritage Conservation Report), page 31, noted that the building was used as a warehouse.So far, I've been able to find an angle that makes it look anything more than a large brick hulk, but perhaps I will eventually paint something that does it justice.