Heritage Register
North Park
929 Caledonia Avenue (ex-147 Chatham St)
Built
1885
Heritage-Designated 2000
For: William & Emily Brooks
ARCHITECTURE:
This two-storey, front gabled Homestead-style house
is one of a set of four similar houses in a row. This house
has retained many of its original features, whilst the
neighbouring houses have been variably altered. The string
course and frieze in the front gable create the appearance
of a pediment. There is a hip-roofed angled bay with panels
on the main floor to the right of the hip-roofed entry porch.
The porch has brackets, chamfered posts, square balusters
and panels in the frieze; it also has its original transom and
side-lights. The front gable has fish-scale and square butt
shingles. The main house is clad in drop siding, and stuccoed
on the left side.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
John H. Turner, an MPP, as BC’s MLAs were originally
called, owned Turner Beeton & Co. He owned this property
before the house was built.
1885-87: William Henry
Brooks (c.1841-1916) & Emily Brock, who died in 1887 of
tuberculosis at 38. The 1885 assessments value the house at
$1,250. Brooks, an accountant, left Victoria.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1888-1901: Phillip Judah Davies (b. San Francisco
1854-1943) and Estelle Vivian (née Isaacs, 1866-1930) paid
the property tax but didn’t reside here until 1893. Phillip
came to Victoria in 1863 on the Sierra Nevada. In 1891 he
married Estelle in San Francisco. Phillip was an auctioneer
in the early 1900s, and later a general labourer and gardener.
He became a member of Court Vancouver AOF in 1872.
Tenants: 1890-91: Boot and shoemaker David Jenkins (b.
WAL 1835-1904) and Margaret (née Townsend, b. Neath,
WAL 1843-1923). Margaret was a teacher who went to
Coquimbo, Chile, to marry Jonas Fox. He died in 1876
leaving four children. She taught until 1879, then married
widower Jenkins, with nine children. They had three more;
six of the 16 later died of diptheria. In 1882 they came to BC,
then Victoria. Margaret was active in many women’s groups,
including the Conservative Club and Canadian Club, and
was a founding member of Women’s Christian Temperance
Union in 1883 and the Local Council of Women. She became
a school trustee in 1897, serving continuously 1902-19,
and promoted many educational programmes, including
domestic science, now home economics. In 1914 the school
board named the new school at 1824 Fairfield Rd for her.
Owners: 1902-06: George Henry Hall (b Westholme,
Vancouver Island, 1877-1946) and Maude Lucille (née<
Crowe, b. Oakland, CA 1882-1961) married in 1902.
George came to Victoria as a boy. He was a wholesale
dry-goods merchant; for years he worked with Piercy &
Co, then Turner Beeton & Co. He bought that firm in the
1930s, renamed it Hall & Co in 1939, and retired in 1945.
The Halls then lived at 1702 Stanley Av.
1907-20: Philip John Jeune (b. Jersey, UK 1865-1957)
and Agnes Esther (née Touet, b. Québec 1867-1965) married
in 1891. Philip came to Victoria that year. Agnes’s
parents were also from Jersey. Philip and his brother Fred
operated the Pandora Sail & Tent Factory (1407 Government
St, 568 & 570 Johnson St, Downtown) for many
years. He retired in 1920, and they farmed in Saanichton.
1921-29, 32: Thomas Henry “Harry” Maynard (b. Kent,
ENG 1865-1939) and Eliza Anthony “Lily” (née Teague,
b. Cornwall, ENG 1867-1929) were Methodist Salvation
Army missionaries when they met on a boat to India. They
married in India in 1886, and converted to the Plymouth
Brethren faith in 1893. They immigrated to Victoria in 1912.
Tenant: 1930: Carpet cleaner Loxley H. Howson.
A rear suite was then added.
1933-35: Sidney Roofing
employee Arthur A. and Margaret Coates.
1935-36: In the
rear suite, the Maynards’ daughter Edith Joyce (1905-1949),
a correspondence instructor, then a student at Victoria College.
1937: Frederick Walter Barber (b. Blackheath, ENG
1891-1961) and Jenny Louise (née Rees, b. Wales 1902-1984) married in 1922. Frederick came to Canada in 1911
and married Hetty Rebecca Dawson in 1914. She died at 26
in 1918 of Spanish Influenza while Frederick served overseas
with the 16th Battalion Canadian Scottish Regiment
from 1917-19. Five of Fred’s sons served with the same
regiment in WWII.
1938-42: Japanese fisherman Kunizo
Uyede and Matsu (née Nakagawa) married here in 1912.
Listed as “Orientals” in 1942, they were sent to internment
camps in the interior, and their property was confiscated.
Owners: 1943-46, 51-53: George Taylor (b. Aberdeenshire,
SCT 1886-1944) and Margaret Helena (née>
Dane, b. Fermanagh, IRL 1881-1955) came to BC in 1917.
George was a watchman. Margaret lived here on and off
after his death.
Tenants:
1947: James and Edna McPherson;
James worked at HMC Dockyard. 1948-49: Mrs. Marion
Reid.
1950: Erling Senem, carpenter.
1947-51: Tip
Top Coffee Shop waitress Mrs. Rose M. Ross.
1952-55:
Canadian government helper Arthur Smith.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:
• Map of Victoria Heritage Register Properties
• North Park History
• North Park Heritage Register
• This Old House, Victoria's Heritage Neighbourhoods,
Volume Three: Rockland, Burnside, Harris Green,
Hillside-Quadra,
North Park & Oaklands
