An iconic City of Victoria landmark at the intersection of Douglas Street and Pandora Avenue has a peculiar feature that has gone unnoticed by most Victorians.

“Can it be righted? Well that depends,” says the City of Victoria’s Facilities Manager, Chaz Whipp.

Whipp is speaking about the City Hall clocktower and its ...lean.

Perhaps not quite as marketable as a certain landmark in Pisa, Italy, the region’s epicentre of municipal politics has a slight list. Although great fodder for fans of trivia and a peculiar sight amid a sea of straight lines and architectural precision, the situation poses no danger to inhabitants within or passersby below.

“The entire building and the tower are regularly seismically reviewed by a structural team and a design team, and there is absolutely no danger [due to the list]. But whether we refab or right the clocktower will really depend on how much work is involved,” Whipp said.

For those who can’t wait to take in the sight for themselves, stand north or south of City Hall and look towards the clocktower. You’ll notice the slight tip of the hat to Vic West, a one, maybe two degree tilt.

Upon closer inspection, the City of Victoria's City Hall clocktower can be seen listing slightly to the west.  Citified.ca.

Jokes and snickers about the Leaning Tower of Victoria aside, crews have been revamping the historic 1891 wing of Victoria’s place of government for nearly two decades as an interior transformation strengthened the building’s structural integrity through seismic upgrading while modernizing interior spaces.

And after a near quarter century of hard work, the end is near.

“The building is a National Historic Site, and given its age, we have to be very careful in how we preserve it. It requires a different level of maintenance as we work to bring it back to its former glory,” Whipp said, adding that only a portion of the first floor remains as a scheduled to-do following a major interior redesign completed in 2013, as well as a $2 million systems renewal.

With the addition of sprinklers and structural improvements to the previously unused top level (which resembles a fortified attic), Whipp says the 8,300 square foot third floor with its exposed beam and brick heritage loft flair may one day become offices for employees. But for now it will remain as excess storage space.

“The third floor was upgraded so we are now able to use it for our storage needs. And it’s really quite neat if you ever get to see the space,” Whipp said.

Whipp does say that despite the building’s age and the difficulties of restoring such a complicated, aging structure at the heart of the region’s civic pride, the experience has been memorable.

“This has actually been quite fun for us in construction, to see how people worked on buildings a hundred-plus year ago. Being involved in the restoration of our City Hall has been educational and so rewarding.”

Segueing back to the infamous Leaning Tower of Victoria, inquiring minds need to know if the discovery by maintenance crews of a bullet hole in the clocktower could yield a possible clue to the mystery tilt.

“Did a shot cause it? No, no I don’t think that’s it,” Whipp said, holding back laughter

"It appears if there is an actual lean to the tower, it was a result [of] original construction." C

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