Ocean Island Inn

Illustration of Ocean Island Backpacker's Inn

Ocean Island Inn is a historic building in Victoria, Canada; it is currently Vancouver Island's largest backpackers' inn.

Located at 791 Pandora Avenue in Victoria, British Columbia, it is a four-storey heritage building,^[1] readily distinguishable by its Italianate architectural form and massing, as well as its distinctive beveled corner.

History

Ocean Island Backpacker's Inn is one of the oldest large-scale commercial buildings of its era to survive in this part of Victoria’s downtown. Constructed in 1891 for Carlo Bossi, a prominent pioneer developer and landowner, it is important to the City's heritage because it is representative of the development patterns of the late nineteenth century, which saw the expansion of the City away from the commercial core and the waterfront. Designed as a hotel with commercial spaces at street level, it is significant that it has retained an element of its original function through a major 1944 renovation which converted it to war-time housing, and through to its present-day use as a backpacker's hostel.

Since 1891, it has been variously known as Allies Hotel, Osborne House, Pandora Hotel, and Ocean Island Backpacker's Inn & Hostel.

Mural

Mural at the rear of the building

The south side of the building has a Trompe-l'œil of "The Honeymooners" – depicting two characters from the television show The Honeymooners – and a Pacific Northwest temperate rainforest mural painted by Robert Scott Dobie, a Vancouver Island-born artist.^[2] The mural is 40' wide x 65' tall and is painted with acrylic resin on stucco.

See also

• Hostel
• Adventure travel
• Backpacking (Canada)
• Tourism in Canada

References

1. ^ City of Victoria Inventory of Heritage Buildings, November 2008. Pg, 18
2. ^ Art Wanted, Biography Robert Scott Dobie

External links

• Ocean Island Backpacker's Inn & Hostel