{"id":15219,"date":"2012-12-06T10:00:29","date_gmt":"2012-12-06T18:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingvancouver.ca\/?p=15219"},"modified":"2013-01-21T07:09:20","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T15:09:20","slug":"sensational-victoria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/12\/06\/sensational-victoria\/","title":{"rendered":"Sensational Victoria"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Ever stood in front of an old house and wondered what went on inside those walls? Who lived there, how they lived their lives and what events happened behind the front door? I admit it\u2019s a weird kind of voyeurism, but I\u2019ve spent a lot of the last decade skulking around in people\u2019s hedgerows asking those very questions.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m fascinated by the deep connections people have to their houses both past and present. Victorian-born superstar David Foster grew up with his six sisters in a modest house in Saanich that his father built. \u00a0He still goes back to visit the house, and he told me it was an important part of his life that has always stuck with him. Alice Munro wrote two of her best selling books from her Rockland house, and Susan Musgrave\u2019s North Saanich house was built by another poet in 1929 and has a 190-foot Douglas Fir tree growing out of her livingroom. Susan says she doesn\u2019t understand people who move into \u201ckey ready houses devoid of personality.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve talked to home owners who have unearthed everything from a murder in the family kitchen, to resident ghosts and celebrities. Others have found evidence of brothels and bootlegging, and one woman found that her house was once a Chinese sausage factory.<\/p>\n

My father\u2019s childhood home in Ballarat, Australia has its own odd history. My eccentric grandmother physically had the bedrooms lopped off the house when her children left home.\u00a0I never found out why, but at least the current owners eventually learned who left them a number of doors that led nowhere.<\/p>\n

My obsession with houses and their secrets found its way into several magazine articles, then in 2007, worked its way into At Home with History<\/em><\/a>, a book about Vancouver\u2019s rich and its disenfranchised filtered through the houses where they lived. I started a weekly blog<\/a>. A book about the interesting, the eccentric and the gutsy figures of Victoria\u2019s past told through the houses in which they lived just seemed like a natural next step. And, after three years, tons of research and too much fun touring the Greater Victoria area, Sensational Victoria<\/a>: bright lights, red lights, murders, ghosts and gardens, hits bookstores this week.<\/p>\n

Emily Carr figures prominently in the book. That wasn\u2019t intentional she just kept getting in my head. She shows readers what James Bay would have been like in 1913 and she shares another chapter with other formidable women from Victoria\u2019s past\u2014Nellie McClung, Gwen Cash, Sylvia Holland, and Capi Blanchet. There\u2019s a chapter on madams and their brothels, another on gardens, murders that span almost a century, ghost stories and some of the writers, entertainers and artists who come from Victoria.<\/p>\n

Much of the information comes from their relatives and the current owners, all who are fiercely proud of their homes. They are the custodians\u2014sometimes for just a few years, other times for decades\u2014who add their own stories to the homes and in turn play a vital part in the ongoing history of the city.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Eve Lazarus<\/strong> is a writer with a passion for history and heritage houses. She is the author of At Home with History: the secrets of Greater Vancouver’s Heritage Houses\u00a0and blogs obsessively about buildings and their genealogies at www.blog.evelazarus.com<\/a>. Her latest book Sensational Victoria: bright lights, red lights, murders, ghosts & gardens was recently launched!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ever stood in front of an old house and wondered what went on inside those walls? Who lived there, how they lived their lives and what events happened behind the front door? I admit it\u2019s a weird kind of voyeurism, but I\u2019ve spent a lot of the last decade skulking around in people\u2019s hedgerows askingContinue reading “Sensational Victoria”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6057,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11233],"tags":[675,654,1014,1079,679,673,10861,672,7814,471,677,23,10635,676,1753,671,674,678,214,479,1347,7829],"class_list":["post-15219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","tag-alice-munro","tag-at-home-with-history","tag-australia","tag-author","tag-capi-blanchet","tag-david-foster","tag-douglas-fir","tag-emily-carr","tag-eve-lazarus","tag-every-place-has-a-story","tag-gwen-cash","tag-historical","tag-james-bay","tag-nellie-mcclung","tag-poet","tag-sensational-victoria","tag-susan-musgrave","tag-sylvia-holland","tag-vancouver-2","tag-victoria","tag-writer","tag-www-blog-evelazarus-com"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSensational Victoria - Spacing Vancouver<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/12\/06\/sensational-victoria\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sensational Victoria - Spacing Vancouver\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ever stood in front of an old house and wondered what went on inside those walls? Who lived there, how they lived their lives and what events happened behind the front door? I admit it\u2019s a weird kind of voyeurism, but I\u2019ve spent a lot of the last decade skulking around in people\u2019s hedgerows askingContinue reading "Sensational Victoria"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/12\/06\/sensational-victoria\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spacing Vancouver\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-12-06T18:00:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-21T15:09:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/sensationalvicfinalcover_600.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Eve Lazarus\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Eve Lazarus\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/12\/06\/sensational-victoria\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/12\/06\/sensational-victoria\/\",\"name\":\"Sensational Victoria - Spacing Vancouver\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/12\/06\/sensational-victoria\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/12\/06\/sensational-victoria\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/sensationalvicfinalcover_600.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-12-06T18:00:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-21T15:09:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/fe217e62139762ef4bd9e0f8be7f7cac\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/12\/06\/sensational-victoria\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/12\/06\/sensational-victoria\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/12\/06\/sensational-victoria\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/sensationalvicfinalcover_600.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/sensationalvicfinalcover_600.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/12\/06\/sensational-victoria\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sensational Victoria\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/\",\"name\":\"Spacing Vancouver\",\"description\":\"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Vancouver Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/fe217e62139762ef4bd9e0f8be7f7cac\",\"name\":\"Eve Lazarus\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cb8a899192f816aacf1504abb5799a25?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cb8a899192f816aacf1504abb5799a25?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Eve Lazarus\"},\"description\":\"Eve Lazarus is a writer with a passion for non-traditional history and a fascination with murder. Her previous books include the BC bestsellers Blood, Sweat, and Fear: the story of Inspector Vance, Vancouver\u2019s first forensic investigator (2017); Cold Case Vancouver: the city\u2019s most baffling unsolved murders (2015) and Sensational Vancouver (2014). Eve blogs at Every Place has a Story--evelazarus.com\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.blog.evelazarus.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/author\/evelazarus\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sensational Victoria - Spacing Vancouver","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/12\/06\/sensational-victoria\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Sensational Victoria - Spacing Vancouver","og_description":"Ever stood in front of an old house and wondered what went on inside those walls? Who lived there, how they lived their lives and what events happened behind the front door? I admit it\u2019s a weird kind of voyeurism, but I\u2019ve spent a lot of the last decade skulking around in people\u2019s hedgerows askingContinue reading \"Sensational Victoria\"","og_url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/12\/06\/sensational-victoria\/","og_site_name":"Spacing Vancouver","article_published_time":"2012-12-06T18:00:29+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-01-21T15:09:20+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/sensationalvicfinalcover_600.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Eve Lazarus","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Spacing","twitter_site":"@Spacing","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Eve Lazarus","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/12\/06\/sensational-victoria\/","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/12\/06\/sensational-victoria\/","name":"Sensational Victoria - Spacing Vancouver","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/12\/06\/sensational-victoria\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/12\/06\/sensational-victoria\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/sensationalvicfinalcover_600.jpg","datePublished":"2012-12-06T18:00:29+00:00","dateModified":"2013-01-21T15:09:20+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/fe217e62139762ef4bd9e0f8be7f7cac"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/12\/06\/sensational-victoria\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/12\/06\/sensational-victoria\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/12\/06\/sensational-victoria\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/sensationalvicfinalcover_600.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/sensationalvicfinalcover_600.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2012\/12\/06\/sensational-victoria\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sensational Victoria"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#website","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/","name":"Spacing Vancouver","description":"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Vancouver Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/fe217e62139762ef4bd9e0f8be7f7cac","name":"Eve Lazarus","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cb8a899192f816aacf1504abb5799a25?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cb8a899192f816aacf1504abb5799a25?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Eve Lazarus"},"description":"Eve Lazarus is a writer with a passion for non-traditional history and a fascination with murder. Her previous books include the BC bestsellers Blood, Sweat, and Fear: the story of Inspector Vance, Vancouver\u2019s first forensic investigator (2017); Cold Case Vancouver: the city\u2019s most baffling unsolved murders (2015) and Sensational Vancouver (2014). Eve blogs at Every Place has a Story--evelazarus.com","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.blog.evelazarus.com"],"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/author\/evelazarus\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6057"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15219"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15222,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15219\/revisions\/15222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}