Over the past 139 years, Pemberton Holmes Ltd. has witnessed the historical development of British Columbia and the City of Victoria. From our origins as Pemberton & Son – surveyors, civil engineers, and real estate and financial agents during the early days of Victoria in the 1800s, through periods of rapid industrialization, world wars, and economic slumps and booms, the company has evolved into the oldest running family-owned real estate company in North America. Preserving this shared history has long been part of the company’s commitment to the community.

In 2012, Richard Holmes and Mike Holmes donated 2400 files, 300 photographs, 40 maps and plans, and 180 volumes of correspondence to the Royal BC Museum that trace the company’s development alongside Victoria and British Columbia’s social and economic history.

Provincial archivists at the Museum likened the experience to an “Indiana Jones” feeling, as they uncovered piles of century-old, dust-covered, relics of our city’s past. By donating these records, Richard and Mike Holmes ensured that more than a century of documentation about property, development, society and community growth in B.C. and Victoria would be preserved and accessible to the public and future researchers.