Victoria heritage buildings receive top honors at 52nd annual awards

Ten heritage buildings in Victoria were recognized at the 52nd Annual Awards Night organized by the Hallmark Heritage Society. The Society introduced two new categories: the Nicholas R. Bawlf Award for Excellence in New Traditional Architecture and the George I. Radford Garden Restoration Award.

The Residential Award of Honour went to Fiona and Steven Cork for their decade‑long restoration of 1215 Richardson Street, a 1908‑09 Edwardian Arts and Crafts home originally built for developer James Anderson Griffith. The couple lifted the house onto a new foundation, upgraded it to current seismic standards and added a legal basement suite, completing much of the interior work themselves.

Primex Investments Ltd. received the Commercial Award of Honour for restoring the Hall Block at 727 Yates Street, an 1897 heritage building designed by architect John Teague. The project included masonry repair, temporary bracing, and a five‑storey residential addition built behind the original façade, adding 11 new rental units while preserving the historic streetscape.

Communication Awards were presented to architectural historian Jim Wolf and the Craigdarroch Castle Society for the book “Craigdarroch Reconstructed: The Story of the Castle’s Design and Construction,” to filmmakers led by Prof. Dr. Geoffrey Bird for the documentary “Story Pole: Indigenous Veterans and the Tallest Totem in the World,” and to the Victoria Heritage Foundation for its long‑standing grant funding, archival research and the free online release of its This Old House book series, which has logged over 19,500 downloads. The inaugural Nicholas R. Bawlf Award was presented to Ian Sutherland for his new Arts project.