Craigflower Manor and Schoolhouse

Craigflower Manor

The Craigflower Manor was a two-storey dwelling built from 1853 to 1856 for the manager of Craigflower Farm, Kenneth MacKenzie. Craigflower was one of four HBC farms on Vancouver Island that provided fresh produce to the nearby Hudson's Bay post at Fort Victoria. The manor was also intended to form the basis of a permanent agricultural settlement in the area. Under Mackenzie, the manor became a social centre for naval officers based at Esquimalt and for residents of Victoria.

Craigflower Schoolhouse

Craigflower Schoolhouse was built in 1854–55 for the children of the community at Craigflower Farm. Built out of lumber milled at the farm, the two-storey structure had a single schoolroom on the first floor and accommodations for the teacher’s family and school boarders on the second. The schoolhouse operated until 1911 and became a museum in 1931. According to Parks Canada, it is the “oldest surviving school building in Western Canada.”

National Historic Sites

Both buildings are modest two-storey wood-frame structures. With their compact rectangular plans and regularly spaced windows, they were typical of vernacular building within a British classical tradition, although the combination of classical and Gothic details on the manor was an unusual design feature. The buildings were designated national historic sites in 1964 and have been restored. They are owned by the province of British Columbia.

Since 2014, the Craigflower Manor museum has been operated and maintained by the Victoria Highland Games Association (see Highland Games in Canada). The association also received permission to build on the site and opened the Victoria Scottish Community Centre in 2023. The Craigflower Schoolhouse has been operated by the Hallmark Heritage Society since 2014. The manor is located in in View Royal and the schoolhouse in Saanich.