Page 99 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Canada

Must See

The grand exterior of
Craigdarroch Castle
lit up at dusk

q "'=
Emily Carr House
⌂ 207 Government St
# May–Oct: 11am–4pm Tue–
Sat ∑ emilycarr.com
Emily Carr, one of Canada’s
best-known artists, was born
in 1871 in this charming,
yellow clapboard house.
It was built in 1864 by
prominent architects Wright
and Saunders, under
instruction from Emily’s citizens formed a society
father, Richard Carr. Located that successfully battled for e "=
just a few minutes walk, from its preservation. Today, the Art Gallery
Inner Harbour, both the house restored interior of the castle of Greater Victoria
and its English-style garden is a museum that offers a ⌂ 1040 Moss St # 10am–
are open to visitors. All the fascinating insight into 5pm Tue–Sat, 10am–9pm
rooms are appropriately the lifestyle of a wealthy Thu, noon–5pm Sun
furnished in late 19th-century Canadian entrepreneur. ∑ aggv.ca
period style, with some The castle is noted for
original family pieces. Visitors having one of the finest This popular gallery is housed
can see the dining room collections of Art Nouveau in an 1889 mansion located in
where Emily taught her first lead-glass windows in North the heritage neighborhood of
art classes to local children, America, and many of the Rockland, a few blocks west of
and Emily’s drawing of her rooms and hallways retain Craigdarroch Castle. Inside,
father still sits on the mantel- their patterned-wood parquet visitors will find a diverse
piece in the sitting room, floors and intricately carved range of works on display,
where, as an eight-year-old, paneling in white oak, cedar, including Canadian contem-
she made her first sketches. and mahogany. Every room is porary and heritage pieces, an
filled with opulent Victorian excellent Asian art collection,
furnishings from the late and temporary exhibitions.
19th century and decorated A superb collection of work
w "-= in its original colors, such as by British Columbia’s premier
Craigdarroch Castle deep greens, pinks and rusts. artist, Emily Carr, is always on
Several layers of the paint display. Highlights include
⌂ 1050 Joan Cres # Jun– have been painstakingly paintings of the British
Sep: 9am–7pm daily; Oct–
May: 10am–4:30pm daily removed from the drawing Columbian coastal forests and
¢ Jan 1, Dec 25 & 26 room ceiling to reveal the depictions of the lives of First
∑ thecastle.ca. original hand-painted and Nations peoples, as well as
stencilled decorations beneath, photographs and excerpts
Completed in 1890, Craig- including wonderfully detailed from her writings.
darroch Castle was the pet butterflies and lions. The gallery is also home
project of respected local coal to one of Canada’s most
millionaire Robert Dunsmuir. important collections of Asian
Although it is not a real castle, art. Look out for the Chinese
the design of this manor home Did You Know? Bell (cast during the Ming
was based on that of his dynasty and presented to the
ancestral home in Scotland After Dunmuir’s wife City of Victoria in 1903) and
and mixes several architectural died, the Craigdarroch the only original Japanese
styles such as Romanesque estate was subdivided Shinto shrine in North
and French Gothic. and the castle offered America (on display amid
When the castle was up as a raffle prize. bamboo and Japanese maple
threatened with demolition trees in the museum’s quaint
in 1959, a group of local courtyard garden).
99

096-099_EW_Canada.indd 99 28/01/2019 14:44