It's the kind of place where I would have had to bring two credit cards just to make sure that I could cover the tab. But thankfully we got a tip from my uncle in Portland about a tea house off the beaten path.
The Point Ellis House was one of the most luxurious Victoria houses in its heyday during the mid 1800s. The residents hosted visiting dignitaries and local big wigs every week. Descendants of the same family actually lived there until the 1970s, and they did an amazing job keeping the house an unchanged snapshot of life in British Colombia.
But here's where it gets interesting. In the late 70s, the family running the house needed to sell the land surrounding it to keep up with the cost of maintaining the facility (it's now owned and run by the city). But in the century and a half since the house was built, the layout of Victoria had changed dramatically. Back then, the river that the house was built on was the center of commerce. Loggers, trappers, and traders all used it to bring their wares into the city. But now, the ocean-facing side of Victoria is where all the action is. International cargo ships are the new hub of commerce, and massive cruise ships drop off tourists every day. The river-facing side of Victoria is now the industrial backbone that keeps the city running. Think waste processing and heavy manufacturing. So the Point Ellis House, in all it's Victorian splendor, is smack in the middle of the ugliest neighborhood in town. Hence the title of this post. Here's the view from front porch:
Of course, the curators of the home wisely serve tea in the backyard, which is absolutely stunning.
And the meal itself was amazing, too.
All in all, Point Ellis House was a real treat. The history was fascinating, the house and gardens were beautiful, and the food was top notch. The occasional, unmistakable, sounds of a truck full of glass bottles getting dumped into the recycling facility just added to the atmosphere. We enjoyed ourselves quite a bit more than I would have expected for an afternoon tea. It was a real treat.
