The Crystal Garden has had some shabby treatment in the past; it deserves careful consideration for its future.The City of Victoria has put out a call for expressions of interest for the historic downtown structure that started its life as a swimming pool, became a popular tropical conservatory and is now an ancillary part of the Convention Centre.
The Crystal Garden was completed in 1925, and provided Victoria with its first indoor swimming pool. Commissioned by the Canadian Pacific Railway to entertain visitors to Victoria, it was designed by Francis Rattenbury, architect of the B.C. Parliament Buildings and the Empress hotel, and P.L. James, who had collaborated with Rattenbury in the design of the Steamship Terminal.
The building is important historically and architecturally, says Steve Barber, former senior heritage planner for the city. “It’s part of that collective group of buildings that Rattenbury brought together,” he said. “It’s part of Victoria’s downtown identity.”
The pool was the largest indoor salt-water swimming pool in the British Empire and attracted international attention. Johnny Weissmuller, a noted competitive swimmer who gained fame in the movies playing Tarzan, set a 100-yard indoor freestyle world swimming record in the pool.
The Crystal Garden became Victoria’s social centre. Besides the pool, it featured two dance ballrooms and a gymnasium. It accommodated special events such as art shows, beauty contests and business conferences.
Time took its toll, and after 55 years, the pool closed in 1970 and the building stood empty for 10 years. The city sold it to the province for a nominal sum. The Provincial Capital Commission spent millions upgrading the structure and reopened it in 1980 as the Crystal Garden Conservation Centre, a conservatory housing tropical plants and endangered animals.
Former curator John Creviston said the conservation centre was a success. Permission had been received to alter the structure to accommodate commercial activity, with the lease revenues from those businesses going to support the centre. On that basis, it either broke even or operated at a small loss, he said, even occasionally making a small profit, although its mandate was not to be profitable.
In 2004, the PCC closed the conservation centre amid bitter controversy that lingers to this day. Creviston says the composition of the PCC had changed, from representing a cross-section of the region to being more political. Commission members wanted the facility to be operated by private enterprise, and called for proposals, despite the fact, says Creviston, that the conservation centre was growing in popularity with locals and visitors.
After $20 million in renovations, the new incarnation of the Crystal Garden, called the B.C. Experience, opened in 2006 with much ballyhoo and closed three months later in bankruptcy.
The building was then leased to the city, which spent nearly $10 million on renovations in 2008 with the hopes of making it a viable part of the Convention Centre. The Crystal Garden became city property in April in a land swap that followed the dissolution of the PCC.
The Crystal Garden hasn’t lived up to expectations as part of the Convention Centre. It costs $500,000 a year to run and brings in only half that in revenues, so it’s understandable that the city would want to rethink how it is used.
Creviston would like to see it become a conservatory again, but admits that suggestion doesn’t have much traction with city council.
It should really make citizens angry that a potentially valuable, historic public asset has been so mismanaged. The call for expressions of interest is probably the best option at this point.
Whatever is decided for the Crystal Garden’s future, it should not ignore the lessons from its past.
