Nearby residents and passersby had front row seats for the end of another era just across the Gorge Tillicum bridge Monday, as an excavator tore through the former Gorge Pointe Pub to prepare the Esquimalt site for a new development.

Mindy Demers, who lives in the adjacent Gorge Pointe condominiums on Tillicum Road, captured much of the roughly four-hour demolition of the mock Spanish-style building from her balcony.

The pub and liquor store building is being removed to make way for a 99-unit, six-storey residential project by Abstract Developments.

RELATED STORY: Former Esquimalt pub site rezoned for 6-storey build despite neighbour concern

The most recent building was the third pub or hotel to be located in the general area off the Gorge Waterway.

According to Glen Mofford on the Old Victoria BC social media page, the original Gorge Hotel opened in 1874 and was destroyed by fire in 1923. A new building that eventually became the next Gorge Hotel was constructed in 1924 and licensed in 1938.

Developer Bill Beadle’s Gorge Pointe project got underway in 1993 and resulted in the demolition of Gorge Hotel. With the condominiums taking advantage of the water view on the edge of the property, the new pub building was constructed on the southern portion of the lot.

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An excavator rumbles through the rubble of the former Gorge Pointe Pub and Liquor Store in Esquimalt. (Photo by Mindy Demers)

With the demolition nearing completion, the excavator operator gathers the rubble for removal by truck. (Photo by Mindy Demers)

With the majority of the structure taken down and the townhomes across Tillicum Road fully visible, the excavator operator pushes the rubble into piles to be transferred into a truck and taken away from the site. (Photo by Mindy Demers)

Debris from the demolition of the former Gorge Pointe Pub loaded into a truck. (Photo by Mindy Demers)