The Times Building

The Original Colours for The Times Building

Built for The Victoria Daily Times newspaper in 1910, this substantial Edwardian building was incorporated into the Eaton Centre in 1979.

The facade of the building was retained and Stuart Stark determined the original colours by researching, sampling and analysing the paint taken from portions of the demolished building, in a storage yard across town.

The pressed-metal cornice was determined to have been painted to simulate stone – a suitable building material to be a trim material for a brick building – and the TIMES sign in the cornice was found to have been gold-leafed, a suitable and long-wearing sign finish.

The original colours were all used in the restoration of the facade of The Times Building. The windows were painted in a goldy-cream colour, which harmonized with the shade of the brickwork.

The intent of saving the facade was to retain the diversity of the downtown streetscapes over the ‘shoebox’ mall approach that had originally been suggested as an addition to these two city blocks.