Greater Victoria – Oak Bay

Communities of Greater Victoria
Oak Bay

Just southeast of and adjacent to the City of Victoria lays the municipality of Oak Bay.  Named for the gnarly Garry Oak trees which are predominant in the landscape, this storied municipality is considered to be one of the most desirable places to live in Canada.

Before the arrival of Europeans, the Coast Salish people of the Songhees Nation lived on the shores of what is now Willows Beach, harvesting the bounty of the ocean.  After Fort Victoria was established in the 1840’s, the Hudsons’s Bay Company took control of a large chunk of Oak Bay, and began farming.  Settlers moved in, and for a time Oak Bay was popular as a seaside getaway, many upper class Victoria families built their summer cottages near local beaches.

The municipality incorporated in 1906 and with the laying of water lines and sewer pipes, development escalated.  The historic business centre of Oak Bay Village emerged at this time.  In 1907 the famous American landscape architect John Charles Olmstead designed the Uplands neighborhood, the first of its kind in Canada.  Eschewing the traditional gridiron streetscape, he used gracefully curving streets and large properties to create a masterpiece of residential suburban design.  Nowadays this area is rumoured to have the most millionaires per square kilometre in Canada and the establishment of Uplands helped set the tone for future development in Oak Bay.

Construction boomed in the 1950’s and early 1960’s at the end of which Oak Bay was almost completely built out, and the middle to upper class character of the municipality was cemented.  Now Oak Bay enjoys a sterling reputation, and property values increase year over year.  Housing here consists mainly of single family residences, from modest in size to practically palatial.  There are also a number of retirement homes; Oak Bay has long been a popular destination for retirees.

The municipality is fully serviced with water and sewer, garbage and recyclable collection.  Oak Bay also has its own police force and fire department.  The community is also home to the Oak Bay Sea Rescue Society, a Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary Unit.  The University of Victoria is located here straddling the border of Oak Bay and the neighboring municipality of Saanich.

There are three recreation centres in Oak Bay; Monterey, Henderson and Oak Bay rec centres, offering a variety of activities and programs for all ages.  As well you will find three golf courses, and waterfront parks including Willows Beach, Gonzales Beach and Cattle Point.  If you pay a visit to the Victoria Golf Course be on the lookout for the famouse Golf Course Ghost, she is often seen beside the seventh fairway, or gliding across the road in front of motorists!

Since 1963 the Oak Bay Tea Party has been held at Willows Park.  This event is a fundraiser for several local charities and boasts a parade, an air show, a bathtub race, entertainment and of course food!

As a nod to its origins as a largely British community, Oak Bay is said to be “more English than England” but of course these days that is a more accurate description of the atmosphere and architecture of the community rather than its citizens.  If you venture “beyond the tweed curtain” as people who are living in Victoria are fond of saying, you will find a beautiful seaside community, with lovely homes and a quiet, genteel character.