Echoes of Empire

Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, is home to some of the finest turn-of-the-century architecture in Canada.

Through Ward's wry, piercing and knowledgeable eye, we meet Francis Rattenbury, the flamboyant twenty-five-yearold designer of the opulent Parliament Buildings and Empress Hotel, whose career dissolved in scandal; Robert Dunsmuir, the tycoon who built an extravagant Scottish baronial castle; artist Emily Carr, premier Amor De Cosmos, and the Natives, missionaries and military men who made Victoria a city where cedar shakes, classical columns, pagoda roofs and heavenly spires jostle in a beautiful and contented ensemble.