A Legacy of Care: The Pemberton Memorials
After our founder J.D. Pemberton’s passing in 1893, Mrs. Teresa Pemberton donated the funds from his estate to create the Pemberton Memorial Operating Room and Pemberton Memorial Chapel at the Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria. The chapel and operating room still exist today at the hospital, in honour of Teresa’s late husband.
The Pemberton Memorial Operating Room
The Pemberton Memorial Operating Room was built in 1896 and was designed by Victoria architect John Teague in cooperation with Dr. John Chapman Davie. It represented a period of significant change in medical practices and hospital design and was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 2005.
The Victoria Medical Society has been working towards preserving the space as a medical history museum, as well as an archival library and offices for the Society.
The Pemberton Memorial Chapel at Royal Jubilee Hospital
The Pemberton Memorial Chapel, designed by Victoria architect J.C.M. Keith, was donated to the Royal Jubilee Hospital by Teresa Pemberton on December 29, 1909.
Reportedly, the interior decorations and mural above the entrance to the chapel were designed by Sophie Pemberton, artist and daughter of J.D. and Teresa Pemberton.
It was restored in 2002 through the efforts of the Royal Jubilee Hospital School of Nursing Alumnae Association, VIHA, and the Greater Victoria Hospital Foundation.
The chapel is now open 24 hours a day and serves as a beautiful and peaceful refuge for visitors, patients, families, and staff.
Pemberton Memorial Chapel
Pemberton Memorial Chapel drawing by Edward Goodall, 1980
Victoria Daily Colonist, Saturday, May 16, 1896
Pemberton Memorial Operating Room, 2026
