This Old House was first published in 1979 by the City of Victoria in the “hope and expectation that this report will raise the level of interest in Victoria’s historic residential development and improve the prospect for its conservation.” It was reissued in 1984, and expanded in 1991.

In 1999 the Victoria Heritage Foundation’s (VHF) Education Committee agreed to produce an updated edition of This Old House using the following guidelines:

1. To include all designated and registered houses.
   
2. To include all designated and registered institutional, commercial, industrial and apartment buildings, for a more complete sense of each neighbourhood.
3. To do more accurate and complete research, including:
   • Complete architectural descriptions of each house
     
   • Comprehensive analysis of house styles and glossary
   • Good indexes and bibliography to broaden the use of the document
   • Expanded social histories on individual owners and occupants, including their wives, and architects and builders of the houses
   • Detailed chronology of events affecting development of Victoria and its neighbourhoods
   • Detailed social and physical histories of each neighbourhood.
4. To supplement current photos with many archival images.

This was a challenge, as the designated and registered houses then numbered 550, with another 50 institutional, commercial, industrial buildings and apartment blocks. By publishing several volumes over a period of time this was possible.

All four volumes of the new This Old House are now available at Victoria City Hall, at local bookstores including Bolen Books, Munro's Books, Ivy's Bookshop, Russell Books, the Royal Museum Shop, or Tanner's Books in Sidney, and from Victoria Heritage Foundation at 250.383.4546 or