After nearly 70 years on Fort Street, Kilshaw’s Auctioneers is packing its gavel and treasures and moving into the heart of downtown Victoria.
Owner Alison Ross is relocating to 1007 Langley St. at the end of October to make way for Abstract Developments’ $30-million Black and White commercial and residential project.
Kilshaw’s new home will be on 6,300 square feet on two levels of The Promis Block, a heritage Edwardian renaissance-style building which was extensively renovated to suit its new tenant. The new location is a “great relief,” Ross said Wednesday.
Auctions will be held on the second floor in what has been named the Ross Room. The new site gives Kilshaw’s more than 2,000 additional square feet compared to its current location.
Building owner Richard Holmes said the “vintage of this building lends itself to housing art and artifacts while having a warm personal feeling that customers will love.”
Kilshaw’s and other businesses at the corner of Fort and Cook streets received six-month notices to be out of their current premises by the end of October.
Some are sticking close by.
Tooks on Cooks bakery and café is moving to the Cook Street Professional Centre at 1175 Cook St., said owner Pam Arslanyan, who expects to be in the new site after Labour Day.
Sorensen Books has already relocated to 1048 Fort St. and the Velvet Crease consignment clothing store has opened at 1035 Fort St. “I think everybody loves the upper Fort area,” said Velvet Crease owner Jacqui Tacon. Her Cook Street location remains open for now as she holds a sale.
As Kilshaw’s prepares for its move, the date of the first auction on Langley Street has not been determined, Ross said.
Regular 6 p.m. Thursday auctions will continue in the new site. The final auction on Fort Street is slated for Oct. 27 and the last day of business there is Oct. 31.
Relocating allows Kilshaw’s to upgrade technology. “This move into a new contemporary space gives us the opportunity to bring Victoria auctions into the 21st century,” Ross said.
Kilshaw’s will be linking to a major online auction platform anticipated to increase international bids for specialty items.
International bidders are nothing new at Kilshaw’s, which has shipped items around the world to destinations such as Estonia, Germany and England.
The platform will give out of town bidders, as well as local residents, the ability to bid live online during an auction.
Currently, bidders can attend an auction in person, submit a bid in advance or bid by telephone for higher end items, she said. The platform provides another option. Ross is not yet revealing the name of that auction site.
During an auction, bidders will also be able to view images of items projected onto a new large screen in the room, she said.
A main-floor consignment desk will be linked with a new inventory system. Sunday viewings are being added, she said.
The Kilshaw family began auctioneering in 1790 in England. Gradwell Kilshaw opened on Fort Street in 1949. Ross has owned Kilshaw’s for a decade and has 15 staff.
Some customers have been showing up for 50 years, she said.
She first walked through its doors while working on a masters degree in art history at the University of Victoria and was fascinated by the auction. Ross later got to know Don Kilshaw, now retired and grandson of Gradwell, when she taught a course on antiques and collectibles through Camosun College. She took students to Kilshaw’s and Don Kilshaw spoke to her classes.
Don Kilshaw offered her a job. She started with cataloguing and moved into auctioneering after a year. Nine years later, she bought the business.
Kilshaw’s handles about $2 million in sales annually, Ross said. Last year, 19,000 lots were sold. Each lot could have hundreds of items. Ross said Canadian art is “hot, hot, hot,” and Chinese decorative arts are also in demand
The highest price paid at a Kilshaw’s auction was $200,000 for an Albert Bierstadt painting, sold to a Canadian in 2008, she said.
