The Bay Street Armoury was built in 1912-1914 during the militia building campaign of 1896-1918, in which more than 100 drill halls and armouries were erected across the country. The architectural plans were prepared by W.R. Wilson, the Department of Public Works' district architect in Victoria. Th ebuilding was designated as a National Historic Site by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. The custodian of the building is the Department of National Defence. In its architectural design, the Bay Street Armoury makes reference to medieval military architecture, the Tudor Revival style. Structurally, the Victoria Armoury exhibits the most integrated use of new structural materials available in the early 20th century. Structural materials consisted of stell and iron encased with fireproof materials and reinforced concrete used together with wood, stone and brick. Over the years the sandstone on the exterior of the building deteriorated badly and pieces began to fall off the building. Also, many bricks were spalled due to the freeze-thaw cycles. About twenty-five years ago the deteriorated sandstone was parged to bring it back to its original shape. The brick was repointed in several areas, however, with a very poor colour match. This made for a stark appearance to the areas repointed. While at the time this may have been common practice, it is viewed as being inappropriate today. In addition, the sandstone patches began falling off about seven years ago. McLeod Masonry replaced all of the stone cornices with cast stone. Moulds were made to replicate the form of the existing cornices and the stone was replaced. All of the previous repointing was replaced and a matching mortar was used to revitalize the facade. About 1000 'new' used bricks were procured to replace the type originally used and all of the spalled bricks were replaced.