Restaurant
Virtuous Pie Plant Based Pizzeria
Location
Pandora Street, Victoria, BC
Size
214 sq m
Completed
2019
Local Collaborators and Artisans
Aryze Developments
Richard Thacker Welder (1000 Parker Street)
Jennifer Forberg Painter - Titled ‘Encasement’
Photographer
silentSama architectural photography
The Finlayson Building, which currently survives as a façade, is valued as a significant contributing resource to a grouping of historic structures that marks the southern edge of Victoria’s Chinatown. Its commercial façade exhibits Italianate elements, such as segmental-arched window openings, string courses, pilasters and a decorative cornice. On each block of Chinatown, street façades link together, forming a wall that shields interior spaces and narrow alleyways between buildings. These alleyways link central courtyards which were the hidden location of tenements, opium dens, theatres and gambling houses of historic Chinatown.
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The Virtuous Pie restaurant draws upon these historical precedents by referencing the red brick and material palette of the saloons and bars found in Chinatown including the Kaiserhof Hotel bar and Tight and Wheeler Restaurant. Warm wood textures and brass detailing are combined with tile accents to create a vibrant and welcoming atmosphere. Raised booth seating and long benches around the perimeter of the room provide a variety of seating types that enhance the potential for chance encounters and engaging conversations. The long linear cocktail and pizza bars allow patrons to experience the preparation of the plant based pizzas and accompanying cocktails and locally produced craft beer. The beautifully composed painting ‘Encasement’ by Jennifer Forberg has been displayed prominently within the space as a central focal piece.
Virtuous Pie’s design draws upon these historical precedents by referencing the red brick and material palette of the saloons and bars found in Chinatown
