560-562 Yates Street

560-562 Yates Street (left) and 564 Yates Street (right).

Here is a map showing the location of 560-562 Yates Street:

Here is a Google Street View showing the location of 560-562 Yates Street:

Additional Information on 560-562 Yates Street

560 Yates Street is legally registered as a commercial strata unit.

• Assessed Value (July 2020): $937,000
• Assessed Value (July 2019): $818,000
• Assessed Value (July 2018): $809,000
• Assessed Value (July 2017): $736,000
• Assessed Value (July 2015): $708,000
• Assessed Value (July 2014): $708,000

A Brief History of 560-562 Yates Street

This building at 560-562 Yates Street was built in 1883 for a Miss E. Watkins, who seems to have rented it out as an income property.

One of the early tenants was the Northwest Produce Company, operated by L. A. Rostein. We are researching whether this is the Louis Albert Rostein who built the Metropolitan Building at  809-817 Government Street in 1903.

In the early 20th century, the building was occupied by another produce business, F.R. Stewart & Co. An early 20th century business directory described F.R. Stewart & Co. as:

“The well known firm of F.R. Stewart & Co. have a large establishment on lower Yates Street where they carry on the business of produce brokers, handling every kind of farm and garden produce and acting as general distributors to the farmers and ranchers. In this way they have done much to promote the settlement of Island lands and to provide a ready market for the produce of orchard and field. They have now added to this a preserving factory where they manufacture their well known brands of preserves the “Diadem” and “Crown.” They use only local grown fruit and guarantee absolute purity. The result is they already have a large market and one with the requirements of which they can with difficulty keep pace. They employ 15 men and have a monthly payroll of $8,500. The only limit to their produce is the amount of fruit available and that is increasing every year.”

Many of the subsequent businesses that occupied the building in the early 20th century were light industrial or wholesalers and included painting contractors, moving and storage firms. In the 1930’s another produce wholesaler, the Western Produce Company, was located in the building.

In the 1950’s it became a restaurant called the Agricola Lunch, which also operated the Agricola Club, a “sporting club.” In the 1960’s, it became the downtown Victoria location of Goodwill Industries and remained so for several decades.

560 Yates Street is currently registered as a commercial strata unit. 562 Yates Street is currently divided into 32 residential strata units.

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