Live in Rockland

Rockland is the hill immediately east of downtown, and it was built on coal. Craigdarroch Castle went up between 1887 and 1890 for Robert Dunsmuir, who owned the Wellington mines and built the Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway; he died in 1889 before it was finished, and his widow Joan — for whom Joan Crescent is named — lived there until 1908. The mansions of Rockland Avenue followed, along with Government House, the Lieutenant Governor's official residence, whose 36 acres of gardens are open to the public every day. The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria occupies the 1889 Spencer Mansion on Moss Street.

What actually happened next. The estates were subdivided and the mansions converted. 1,030 of the neighbourhood's 1,960 dwellings are now apartments in low-rise buildings; only 525 are detached houses. Renters slightly outnumber owners, 1,060 households to 940 — in the city's grandest neighbourhood. Craigdarroch itself was in turn a military hospital, Victoria College (the ancestor of UVic), school board offices and the Victoria Conservatory of Music before becoming a museum in 1979.

The money. BC Assessment's 2026 roll puts the median residential value at $1,433,000, the highest of the twelve neighbourhoods — and the maximum at $154 million, which is the clearest possible statement of the range this hill contains. Only 40% of owner households still carry a mortgage, the lowest share in the city alongside James Bay, and the median age is 51. Above $3 million the province's additional school tax applies at 0.2% a year, rising to 0.4% above $4 million: on Rockland Avenue that is a real annual line item, not a curiosity.

Living here in practice. This is a quiet, mature, well-treed hill ten minutes' walk from Fort Street and twenty-five from the harbour, with two of the region's three most-visited historic buildings inside it and several consulates on its streets. It has no shops of its own, no school inside the boundary and no supermarket — Fort Street's Antique Row on the northern edge is the nearest retail of any kind.

Worth knowing before you commit

The grandest address in Victoria, and the oldest fabric

Half the neighbourhood is a converted mansion; the other half is a 1960s walk-up behind one

---

• Fifty-four per cent of the stock predates 1960, much of it heritage-designated or heritage-adjacent — alterations may need a heritage alteration permit, and the fabric behind the façade is often older than the listing implies
• Converted-mansion strata are their own category: unusual unit layouts, shared heritage envelopes and depreciation reports with very large numbers in them. Read them properly
• The additional school tax above $3 million is annual and unavoidable, and Rockland has more properties over that line than the rest of the city put together
• Craigdarroch and Government House are both on the coach-tour circuit; Joan Crescent and Rockland Avenue carry visitor traffic a residential street of this kind would not otherwise see
• No shops, no school and no supermarket inside the boundary — Fort Street is the northern edge and Fairfield Plaza is the nearest grocery
• Mature-tree maintenance on these lots is a real recurring cost, and so is the leaf fall, which runs from October into late December

How Rockland got here

• 1860sThe hill east of the fort town is subdivided into large estate lots. Its elevation, southern aspect and distance from the harbour's industry make it the colonial establishment's address of choice, and it stays that for a century.
• 1887–1890Craigdarroch Castle is built for Robert Dunsmuir, the coal baron who owned the Wellington mines and built the Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway. He dies in 1889 before it is finished; his widow Joan Dunsmuir lives there until 1908, and Joan Crescent below it carries her name.
• 1889The Spencer Mansion is built on Moss Street. It becomes the home of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria in the 1950s, and the gallery's Moss Street Paint-In grows into the city's largest single-day arts event.
• 1903A new Government House, designed by Francis Rattenbury and Samuel Maclure, opens as the Lieutenant Governor's official residence. It burns in 1957; the present building opens in 1959 on the same site, and its 36 acres of gardens remain open to the public daily.
• 1921–1946Craigdarroch serves in turn as a military hospital for returning soldiers, then as Victoria College — the ancestor of the University of Victoria — then as school board offices and the Victoria Conservatory of Music. It becomes a museum in 1979.
• 1950s–1970sThe estates are subdivided and the mansions converted. Low-rise apartment blocks fill the gaps along Fort, Rockland and Richardson: 1,030 of today's 1,960 dwellings are flats in buildings under five storeys, and renters end up slightly outnumbering owners in the city's grandest neighbourhood.
• 2021The census counts 3,740 residents in 1,960 dwellings, median age 51, with 940 owner households to 1,060 renter ones and 40% of owners still carrying a mortgage — the lowest share in the city alongside James Bay.
• 2026BC Assessment's roll puts the median residential value at $1,433,000, the highest of the twelve neighbourhoods. Above $3 million the province's additional school tax applies at 0.2%, rising to 0.4% above $4 million — a live annual cost on the largest houses on Rockland Avenue.

The resident's angle: borrowing an official residence's garden works well until you want somewhere to throw a ball or let a dog off the lead, at which point Rockland has nothing and Beacon Hill is twenty-five minutes' walk. The compensation is the streets: Rockland Avenue, Joan Crescent and the roads off them are as good a place to walk in October as anywhere in British Columbia.

The free option is the hill itself, plus Government House's grounds, which are open daily and make a genuinely good walking loop. Check current pool schedules before planning around any single facility.