James Bay Homes & Real Estate | Victoria

James Bay is one of the historic neighbourhoods located in Victoria, BC. James Bay gets its name from a body of water named in honour of Sir James Douglas which is now the site of the famous Empress Hotel. A wonderful place to live, just minutes to Downtown Victoria while having a great community feel. if you are looking for a property in the James Bay neighbourhood sign for a free account or reach out to your CityNest REALTOR so they can update your property search.

Properties are listed in chronological order, with the newest properties listed first. Click on any property to see detailed maps, schools, walk score or to schedule a tour. 

Latest James Bay Home Listings

About James Bay

James Bay is a historic neighbourhood nestled on the peninsula south of Victoria’s Inner Harbour. As the oldest neighbourhood on Pacific Coast north of San Francisco, James Bay’s antiquity can’t help but shine through. Horse-drawn carriages still trot along the historic streets, past renowned painter Emily Carr’s childhood home and the old James Bay Inn. James Bay Village provides a great mini hub for shopping in the neighbourhood.

The neighbourhood’s famous Dallas Road, with its brand new biking path and long-stretching beaches, is arguably the best place in Victoria to soak in a sunset. The bonus of Beacon Hill park in James Bay’s backyard can’t be overstated, and the long breakwater of Ogden Point is a great vantage point of the scenic shoreline in both directions. 

James Bay Real Estate

Architecture

James Bay is an artful mix of modern townhouses, condos, and heritage homes that vary from Tudor Revival with gabled roofs to Gothic to the Classical Cottage with deep balconies and hand-hewn details. The steep-pitched and turreted roofs of Queen Anne-style architecture are also common. Perhaps the most signature to James Bay are the neo-baroque Edwardian homes, which are nostalgic of the nearby Parliament Buildings. 

About James Bay

Climate

While James Bay tends to take much of the windy gusts from the Pacific, it also benefits from the sub-Mediterranean climate offered by that same great ocean. Residents take joy spending James Bay’s many sunny days getting some fresh air at the many seaside coves below Dallas Road. 

History

When Europeans arrived, the cliffs of James Bay were filled with habitations of the Lekwungen peoples. Laurel Point was home to a Lekwungen burial ground. In the 1840s and 50s, the land was converted into residence and Hudson’s Bay Company farmland, with the southeast corner of Menzies and Simcoe Streets — present-day James Bay Village — being the farmhouse site. James Bay street names are reminiscent of places in Eastern Canada, as Hudson’s Bay Company officials named them after locations familiar to them. Ship passengers frequently traveled to James Bay from San Francisco and the Orient, hence the construction of the grand Dallas Hotel along Dallas Road in 1891. Beginning in the 1860s, the working class began staking out homes in James Bay, leading to a construction boom in the 1890s. Many of these homes were demolished in the 1950s onward to make room for apartments, but thanks to a grassroots heritage preservation movement of the 1970s, many old James Bay homes survive today.

James Bay Amenities

Parks & Recreation

Beacon Hill Park - As one of Victoria’s largest parks, Beacon Hill has over 700,000 square metres of parkland. Its multitude of features, including playgrounds, sports fields, protected Garry Oak meadow, ponds, tennis courts, petting zoo, flower gardens, waterpark — and, yes, free-roaming peacocks — make it an all-in-one destination to visit with family, friends, or in solitude.

Dallas Road Walkway - Dallas Road offers one of Victoria’s best walkways and bike paths overlooking the Salish Sea. There are a number of access trails from the walkway down to the beach to finish off your run or other exercise with a relaxing sit.

Holland Point & Finlayson Point Parks - Just off of Dallas Road, Holland Point and Finlayson Point Parks are nearby grassland points that look out over the Salish Sea towards the Olympics. With wind-whipped elm shrubs, fields of wildflowers, forested paths, and a series of benches for taking in the views, they are great places to relax and restore at any time of day.

MacDonald Park - MacDonald Park is a large sports field just off the centre of James Bay, which offers a well-maintained grassy field for playing sports like soccer, rugby, ultimate frisbee, or simply walking.

Laurel Point Park - Laurel Point Park is a great new addition to James Bay, connecting the walkway from Fisherman’s Wharf with a nice stroll towards Centennial Park, near the B.C. Parliamentary Buildings. Laurel Point has some great views to see the Inner Harbour action, as well as some grassy patches for family picnics.

Other notable parks include South Park, Irving Park, James Bay Toddler Park, Quadra Park, and Todd Park Tennis Courts.

Shopping & Dining

James Bay Village in the heart of James Bay is filled with little shops, grocery stores, bakeries, restaurants, and other services. The Bent Mast is a highlight of the micro-village with exceptional cuisine and craft beers that can be enjoyed on an outdoor patio or at its indoor seating within an 1884 Victorian heritage home. As you wait for your food you can keep your eyes peeled for “at least three (harmless) spirits” that allegedly reside in the house.

James Bay’s weekly Saturday Community Farmers Markets at Menzies and Superior are a great way to purchase local produce and artisanal goods, as well as experience local music and other performances. 

Historic James Bay Inn & Pub is the third oldest hotel in Victoria. Its pub and café are a great place to grab any meal of the day, including brunch on the weekend, as well as a cold drink on a hot day or vice versa.

Beacon Drive-In is your classic drive-in diner food with its 50’s style food and atmosphere. Sitting just across the street from Beacon Hill Park, it’s perfect for grabbing soft ice cream to go, or to stay and have a seafood or classic burger with fries.

Songhees Seafood & Steam is the only Indigenous food truck in Victoria, which hosts a long menu of traditional Songhees food with a modern take. You can’t go wrong with one of their mouthwatering salmon or bison burgers on bannock bread with a side salad. They are usually parked on the James Bay side of the Inner Harbour on Belleville Street.

Nourish - Nourish serves holistic and nourishing food out of one of James Bay’s 1888 heritage homes. Similar to the Bent Mast, it’s a great way to be inside a historical atmosphere of James Bay, while ingesting some of the most nutritious and soul-touching food that Victoria has to offer. 

Arts & Entertainment

Royal BC Museum - With 7 million objects and 750,000 records of specimens from BC and the surrounding provinces, the Royal BC Museum is considered world class. It is a great place to visit and revisit to get a deep-seated understanding of place, history and living cultures through tactile learning, from walking through old Victorian streets to the sound of blacksmithing; sitting in a reconstruction of one of the first theatres to watch silent Charlie Chaplin films; beholding a life-sized wooly mammoth; or entering a longhouse and totem hall featuring carvings from Kwakwaka’wakw, Heiltsuk, Nuxalk, Gitxsan, Haida and Nuu-chah-nulth communities.

Fisherman's Wharf Park is a great place to grab fish and chips, watch the seals play, and marvel at the rustic and eccentric houseboats lining the docks. 

Greater Victoria Public Library - sxʷeŋxʷəŋ təŋəxʷ James Bay Branch - Sxʷeŋxʷəŋ təŋəxʷ (Pronounced s-hweng hw-ung tongue-oo-hw) is the Lekwungen name for James Bay, and was chosen through the “Name That Library” program. The branch is the most recent extension of the Greater Victoria Public Library and is a great place to sign out books and to find a silent place to enter literary worlds. 

Victoria Edelweiss Club is a German Canadian Cultural Society complete with a German Deli and a Drive-Thru Schnitzel Night. The Club also hosts dances, markets, balls, and language classes. It is also the site of the Ecstatic Dance Temple every Sunday.

Beacon Hill Children’s Farm & Petting Zoo brings “the farm animal experience into the city.” For families with children, the Children’s Farm provides an exciting and educational experience for kids to connect with goats, donkeys, guinea pigs, real pigs, and other cute creatures. Their goal to harbour a learning environment for children to develop compassion towards other living beings.

Schools

Public

James Bay Community School - 140 Oswego St, Victoria, BC V8V 2B1

South Park Elementary School - 508 Douglas St, Victoria, BC V8V 2P7

Private

Christ Church Cathedral School - 912 Vancouver St, Victoria, BC V8V 3V7

James Bay Stats

Size and Population

Population: 11,275 (2016 stats)

Population Density: 5,393 per square kilometre

Zip Code(s): V8V

Interesting Trivia

The world’s tallest free-standing totem pole is in Victoria’s Beacon Hill Park. Just under 40 metres tall, the project was led by Kwakwaka’wakw carver and Tribal Chief Mungo Martin in 1956, with the help of his son David and Henry Hunt. The pole was restored in 2011 in collaboration with Henry Hunt’s descendent, Calvin Hunt.

 

“Mile Zero” at Dallas and Douglas in James Bay is the official start of the Trans-Canada Highway that stretches to St. John’s, Newfoundland. It was also the starting point of legendary Terry Fox’s one-legged cross-country run for cancer.

 

James Bay

James Bay is a historic neighbourhood nestled on the peninsula south of Victoria’s Inner Harbour. As the oldest neighbourhood on Pacific Coast north of San Francisco, James Bay’s antiquity can’t help but shine through. Horse-drawn carriages still trot along the historic streets, past renowned painter Emily Carr’s childhood home and the old James Bay Inn. James Bay Village provides a great mini hub for shopping in the neighbourhood.

 

The neighbourhood’s famous Dallas Road, with its brand new biking path and long-stretching beaches, is arguably the best place in Victoria to soak in a sunset. The bonus of Beacon Hill park in James Bay’s backyard can’t be overstated, and the long breakwater of Ogden Point is a great vantage point of the scenic shoreline in both directions. 

 

James Bay Real Estate

 

Architecture

James Bay is an artful mix of modern townhouses, condos, and heritage homes that vary from Tudor Revival with gabled roofs to Gothic to the Classical Cottage with deep balconies and hand-hewn details. The steep-pitched and turreted roofs of Queen Anne-style architecture are also common. Perhaps the most signature to James Bay are the neo-baroque Edwardian homes, which are nostalgic of the nearby Parliament Buildings. 

 

About James Bay

Climate

While James Bay tends to take much of the windy gusts from the Pacific, it also benefits from the sub-Mediterranean climate offered by that same great ocean. Residents take joy spending James Bay’s many sunny days getting some fresh air at the many seaside coves below Dallas Road. 

History

When Europeans arrived, the cliffs of James Bay were filled with habitations of the Lekwungen peoples. Laurel Point was home to a Lekwungen burial ground. In the 1840s and 50s, the land was converted into residence and Hudson’s Bay Company farmland, with the southeast corner of Menzies and Simcoe Streets — present-day James Bay Village — being the farmhouse site. James Bay street names are reminiscent of places in Eastern Canada, as Hudson’s Bay Company officials named them after locations familiar to them. Ship passengers frequently traveled to James Bay from San Francisco and the Orient, hence the construction of the grand Dallas Hotel along Dallas Road in 1891. Beginning in the 1860s, the working class began staking out homes in James Bay, leading to a construction boom in the 1890s. Many of these homes were demolished in the 1950s onward to make room for apartments, but thanks to a grassroots heritage preservation movement of the 1970s, many old James Bay homes survive today.

 

James Bay Amenities

 

Parks & Recreation

 

Beacon Hill Park - As one of Victoria’s largest parks, Beacon Hill has over 700,000 square metres of parkland. Its multitude of features, including playgrounds, sports fields, protected Garry Oak meadow, ponds, tennis courts, petting zoo, flower gardens, waterpark — and, yes, free-roaming peacocks — make it an all-in-one destination to visit with family, friends, or in solitude.

 

Dallas Road Walkway - Dallas Road offers one of Victoria’s best walkways and bike paths overlooking the Salish Sea. There are a number of access trails from the walkway down to the beach to finish off your run or other exercise with a relaxing sit.

 

Holland Point & Finlayson Point Parks - Just off of Dallas Road, Holland Point and Finlayson Point Parks are nearby grassland points that look out over the Salish Sea towards the Olympics. With wind-whipped elm shrubs, fields of wildflowers, forested paths, and a series of benches for taking in the views, they are great places to relax and restore at any time of day.

 

MacDonald Park - MacDonald Park is a large sports field just off the centre of James Bay, which offers a well-maintained grassy field for playing sports like soccer, rugby, ultimate frisbee, or simply walking.

 

Laurel Point Park - Laurel Point Park is a great new addition to James Bay, connecting the walkway from Fisherman’s Wharf with a nice stroll towards Centennial Park, near the B.C. Parliamentary Buildings. Laurel Point has some great views to see the Inner Harbour action, as well as some grassy patches for family picnics.

 

Other notable parks include South Park, Irving Park, James Bay Toddler Park, Quadra Park, and Todd Park Tennis Courts.

 

Shopping & Dining

James Bay Village in the heart of James Bay is filled with little shops, grocery stores, bakeries, restaurants, and other services. The Bent Mast is a highlight of the micro-village with exceptional cuisine and craft beers that can be enjoyed on an outdoor patio or at its indoor seating within an 1884 Victorian heritage home. As you wait for your food you can keep your eyes peeled for “at least three (harmless) spirits” that allegedly reside in the house.

 

James Bay’s weekly Saturday Community Farmers Markets at Menzies and Superior are a great way to purchase local produce and artisanal goods, as well as experience local music and other performances. 

 

Historic James Bay Inn & Pub is the third oldest hotel in Victoria. Its pub and café are a great place to grab any meal of the day, including brunch on the weekend, as well as a cold drink on a hot day or vice versa.

 

Beacon Drive-In is your classic drive-in diner food with its 50’s style food and atmosphere. Sitting just across the street from Beacon Hill Park, it’s perfect for grabbing soft ice cream to go, or to stay and have a seafood or classic burger with fries.

 

Songhees Seafood & Steam is the only Indigenous food truck in Victoria, which hosts a long menu of traditional Songhees food with a modern take. You can’t go wrong with one of their mouthwatering salmon or bison burgers on bannock bread with a side salad. They are usually parked on the James Bay side of the Inner Harbour on Belleville Street.

 

Nourish - Nourish serves holistic and nourishing food out of one of James Bay’s 1888 heritage homes. Similar to the Bent Mast, it’s a great way to be inside a historical atmosphere of James Bay, while ingesting some of the most nutritious and soul-touching food that Victoria has to offer. 

 

Arts & Entertainment

Royal BC Museum - With 7 million objects and 750,000 records of specimens from BC and the surrounding provinces, the Royal BC Museum is considered world class. It is a great place to visit and revisit to get a deep-seated understanding of place, history and living cultures through tactile learning, from walking through old Victorian streets to the sound of blacksmithing; sitting in a reconstruction of one of the first theatres to watch silent Charlie Chaplin films; beholding a life-sized wooly mammoth; or entering a longhouse and totem hall featuring carvings from Kwakwaka’wakw, Heiltsuk, Nuxalk, Gitxsan, Haida and Nuu-chah-nulth communities.

 

Fisherman's Wharf Park is a great place to grab fish and chips, watch the seals play, and marvel at the rustic and eccentric houseboats lining the docks. 

 

Greater Victoria Public Library - sxʷeŋxʷəŋ təŋəxʷ James Bay Branch - Sxʷeŋxʷəŋ təŋəxʷ (Pronounced s-hweng hw-ung tongue-oo-hw) is the Lekwungen name for James Bay, and was chosen through the “Name That Library” program. The branch is the most recent extension of the Greater Victoria Public Library and is a great place to sign out books and to find a silent place to enter literary worlds. 

 

Victoria Edelweiss Club is a German Canadian Cultural Society complete with a German Deli and a Drive-Thru Schnitzel Night. The Club also hosts dances, markets, balls, and language classes. It is also the site of the Ecstatic Dance Temple every Sunday.

 

Beacon Hill Children’s Farm & Petting Zoo brings “the farm animal experience into the city.” For families with children, the Children’s Farm provides an exciting and educational experience for kids to connect with goats, donkeys, guinea pigs, real pigs, and other cute creatures. Their goal to harbour a learning environment for children to develop compassion towards other living beings.

 

Schools

Public

• James Bay Community School - 140 Oswego St, Victoria, BC V8V 2B1

• South Park Elementary School - 508 Douglas St, Victoria, BC V8V 2P7

 

Private

• Christ Church Cathedral School - 912 Vancouver St, Victoria, BC V8V 3V7

 

City Nest Realty

James Bay Stats

Size and Population

• Area: 2

• Population: 11,275 (2016 stats)

• Population Density: 5,393 per square kilometre 

• Zip Code(s): V8V

Interesting Trivia

 

The world’s tallest free-standing totem pole is in Victoria’s Beacon Hill Park. Just under 40 metres tall, the project was led by Kwakwaka’wakw carver and Tribal Chief Mungo Martin in 1956, with the help of his son David and Henry Hunt. The pole was restored in 2011 in collaboration with Henry Hunt’s descendent, Calvin Hunt.

 

“Mile Zero” at Dallas and Douglas in James Bay is the official start of the Trans-Canada Highway that stretches to St. John’s, Newfoundland. It was also the starting point of legendary Terry Fox’s one-legged cross-country run for cancer.