HILLSIDE / QUADRA ^{VICTORIA, BC}

The name Hillside-Quadra is derived from two of the neighbourhoods’ principal streets that run east-west and north-south respectively, dividing the community into quadrants of unequal size. The names evolved from two sources: Hillside Farm (which occupied most of the area) and the 18th Century Spanish explorer Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra (who never set eyes on any part of Victoria). The land rises generally from south to north, with the highest portion being in the northeast, variously called Work’s Rocks, Summit Hill or Smith’s Hill. A stream flowed from east to west, close to the southerly edge, just north of Bay Street. It drained from Harris Pond in Fernwood and flowed into Rock Bay. The neighbourhood boundaries are Bay Street on the south, Cook Street on the east, Blanshard Street on the west and Tolmie Avenue (the dividing line between Victoria and Saanich) on the north. In some ways these boundaries seem artificial because they do not follow the natural features in the landscape, but slice right through them or divide some neighbourhoods (e.g. north and south of Bay Street, east and west of Cook Street and east and west of Blanshard Street). When viewed in the context of early land ownership, however, they are quite logical. (source: http://www.victoriaheritagefoundation.ca/)

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