OAKLANDS ^{VICTORIA, BC}

Oaklands is an expansive and primarily residential neighbourhood in the NE corner of Victoria, bounded by North Dairy, Shelbourne, Haultain, and Cook Streets. The majority of development occurred between WWI and WWII, and before this, vast sections of the area west of Bowker Creek and the Hillside Shopping Centre area were farmland. There were areas of swampland along Haultain Street.

The majority of the roads running through Oaklands were not created until subdivisions were developed in the early 1900s, but Cedar Hill Road’s existence dates to the early 1850s as it led to Cedar Hill (now Mt Douglas) where HBC men hunted, and the early farms in what is now Gordon Head in Saanich.

Oaklands’ next building boom took place during and after WWII, with many examples of wartime and veterans’ housing in the area, particularly on Shakespeare Street, Scott Street, Oakland Avenue, Hillside Avenue, Edgeware Road, Myrtle Avenue, and Kings Road. The development of Hillside Mall was begun in 1962 by Bentall: they built an enclosure for a number of independent businesses which had existed on the site and built the large Sears store. During the 1960’s and ’70s the great boom in apartment blocks throughout Victoria affected Oaklands only slightly, but the more recent condominium building boom starting in the 1990s is particularly evident along the main trunks of the neighbourhood such as Hillside Avenue. (source: http://www.victoriaheritagefoundation.ca/)

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