Victoria Hall, Petrolia is a national historic site, a provincially designated heritage building and a cultural center for Lambton County.  In January 1989 on the event of its centenary, Victoria Hall was tragically gutted by fire leaving only its massive brick walls intact. As a late 19th century public building Victoria Hall is a very fine example of the Queen Anne style by its leading Canadian exponent, architect George F. Durand.  Durand was born in nearby London ca. 1850 and came from a family of builders and had worked as a young architect on both the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa and the New York State Capital building.  The building that Durand created as Petrolia’s town hall exhibits a lightness of touch in the detailing and ornamentation.  The added exuberance of Durand’s design for Victoria Hall was perhaps inspired by the challenge of combining the municipal offices but also the police station and fire hall.  The entire second floor was given over to an opera house. While Victoria Hall is important architecturally on both a regional and national scale, its designation as a national historic site was made for reasons other than the merits of its architectural style.  Victoria Hall represents the culmination of three decades of achievement in Canada’s early industrial development