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Sunday, March 22, 2009

The Bell Tower

One of many things I like about doing a City Daily Photo Blog is that it continually forces me to discover more about this city.

For instance, if you look at the header of this blog you will see an unusual tower on the left. The same tower is pictured to the right here and I have to confess that until today I hadn't a clue as to what this tower was. I always liked it because it's got nice colors and shapes and no apparent use but I decided today that it was just irresponsible of me to have it poking up into the skyline in my header photo when I was ignorant as to its purpose. It has a plaque at its base that reads as follows:
The Bell Tower
This site is in the immediate area of old Fort Victoria where the Hudson's Bay Company's original fort was located. Structures within the fort included a building for general meeting purposes and a bell tower. The bell in the tower was probably the first means of communication for the early settlers of the fort in 1845. It was rung to summon the Hudson's Bay employees to the mess hall, to signal church services, marriages and deaths, to alert the staff to return to the fort if trouble seemed imminent and, of course by the night watchman on rounds calling out the hour with "All's well".
Erected by CP Telecommunications - 1978
I still don't know if it rings from time to time or even has a bell in it now but at least we all know what it is supposed to be.
For those of you who want to see more of this delicious Mustang, here's another shot on the left. And on the right is another view of the Bell Tower, just because I love all these colors and shapes.

7 comments:

Lowell said...

Three gorgeous photos...the lighting is exquisite...and the color of the Mustang is just weirdly attractive!

airplane5312 said...

Oh and delicious it is! Yours? Like the 'in your face' perspective.

Arctic Dakini said...

There's a fire station in Toronto, On College St that has a tower just like this. It's the original building: it's where they hung the fire hoses to dry, & of course where the bell was, to announce the fire trucks/wagons were going to a fire.

Jabba said...

This is embarrassing, but I've never even noticed this tower before. I'll be sure to check next time I'm driving towards downtown.

Michaela said...

Delicious is right. My mouth is water over that mustang.

Anonymous said...

Stunning. It looks too perfect with the colours and lighting. Simply one of the best photos I have seen in a long time.
max

Anonymous said...

It is a telecommunications tower, there is no bell in it. It was built in the 1970's.

There is a large satellite dish in it though.