I would wager that 100 years ago, the local First Nations found our European style homes very out of place in the neighbourhood.
Thankfully, they were not architectural elitists, and tolerated the new dwellings without making a fuss or picketing.
You can rest assured that Samuel Maclure and Francis Rattenbury did not try to imitate older designs. They were on the cutting edge of their art. Were they alive today, they would not be designing homes to look as though created in a bygone era.
It’s important for new homes to fit in. However, this is a matter of size and scale, rather than style. There are homes representing every decade in Oak Bay. Trying to imitate the past is simply architectural stagnation.
Richard Brunt
Victoria