Leiser Building (Victoria)

 condo, commercial building

Built: 1896

524 Yates Street
Victoria, BC V8W 1K8

The Simon Leiser Building is a three-storey brick Victorian commercial building on the corner of Yates Street and Waddington Alley. Simon Leiser & Co., Wholesale Grocers, was the largest business of its kind in British Columbia when this building was built. It originally featured a central electrical elevator with tracks radiating from the elevator on each floor for ease of handling merchandise.

Designed by architect A.C. Ewart, the building cost $35,000 in 1896. The brick structure has stone dressings and sheet metal decoration. It was renovated in 1972 as the headquarters for the Capital Regional District.

The building was then restored and converted to condominiums by LeFevre & Co. in 2008 with ground floor retail space.

historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=1483
victoriahistory.ca/single.php?sec=property&id=3204