• What: Public open house on the CPR Steamship Terminal building at 470 Belleville St.

• When: Tuesday, March 8

• Time: 4:30 to 6 p.m.

• Where: Hotel Grand Pacific, east Vancouver Island ballroom, 463 Belleville St.

• Who will be there: Representatives from the Provincial Capital Commission, the building owner, Ernst and Young LLP, which is co-ordinating the proposal process, and architects from the consulting team.

• Topics: Seismic upgrading and rehabilitation work now underway. Public comment is welcome on the best use of the building. Comment cards will be available. A proposal call for new tenants was issued last year.

Let there be light.

The interior of the heritage CPR Steamship Terminal Building on Victoria's harbour is being transformed from the darkened space that once housed the Royal London Wax Museum's cast of characters.

Construction workers pulling out additions have not only brightened the interior where some black paint still covers many of the windows, but their work has also unveiled stately designs hidden for many decades.

"It has opened up into one grand space," says Ray Parks, chief executive of the Provincial Capital Commission, which owns the 1924 building and is taking it through a $3-million seismic upgrade and renovation.

"When it is fully restored it is will be breathtaking," added Parks.

After four decades, the wax museum moved out last fall and the PCC is seeking proposals for new tenants for the four floors of the property at 470 Belleville St. Those levels, including two upper floors used for offices, total 20,900 square feet. March 15 is the deadline for proposals.

"I'm counting on them surprising us with some brilliance because you only get to do this once in a lifetime," Parks said during a tour on Wednesday.

He does not know who the potential bidders are and said the proposals will remain confidential on the deadline date. Ernst and Young LLP is running the bid process. An evaluation committee will look at proposals and make a recommendation to the PCC board on March 31.

Parks expects names will be released when an application is chosen. The board votes April 7.

Interest has already come in from the Maritime Museum of B.C. as well as Oak Bay businessman Bob Wright, who envisions an attraction showcasing British Columbia.

Rehabilitation work starting last year uncovered two rows of eight stately columns, adorned with decorative plaster, lining the interior of the main floor with its 16-foot ceilings.

Ornate embellishments and cornices have been uncovered in gold, red and blue. A blue-and-white maritime wave design is featured in decorative medallions topping columns.

A massive fireplace is adorned with the letters CPR joined into another decorations in the west end of the 7,900- square-foot main level. The fireplace mantel is close to six feet tall. Open doors reveal postcard-perfect water views.

Original two-inch-thick stone tiles from Haddington Island, near Port McNeill, are covered in dust but are largely intact on the main level.

Designed and built by noted architects Francis Rattenbury and P.L. James, the Edwardian classical revival building with its ionic columns was first used as a ferry terminal. A gangway ran from ships up to the building, constructed of pre-cast concrete.

"It is a statement in the city of who we have been and what we have done," Parks said.

A steel frame, highlighting the St. Andrew's Cross design already used on the property, will be installed inside the building to help support it. The building will be brought up to today's earthquake standards, Parks said.

On the lower level where the visitors shivered in the chamber of wax horrors, trenches have been cut into the floor to hold 24 steel piles, each measuring 25 feet. They were drilled down into granite below and secured in place.

"They basically support the building," said Richard Iredale, partner in Iredale Group Architecture of Vancouver, the firm responsible for the renovation.

The building was originally constructed on rubble fill, requiring the piles to be installed, Iredale said. Original concrete was not that strong so a fibre-mesh reinforcement has been attached to the underside of existing joists.

Improvements will be as green as possible, he said. Massive walls and the structure of the building will help keep the interior cool, Iredale said. Natural ventilation — the 12-foot windows open at the top — will be used in the hopes that an air conditioning system will not be needed.

Paint colours on the exterior will be various hues of a similar colour, running from a warm buff through to a dark grey-brown in order to create a tasteful appearance, Iredale said, adding "the building has kind of a simple elegance to it."

cjwilson@timescolonist.com