Heritage Register
Rockland
1715 Rockland Avenue (ex-104 Rockland Av)
Hochelaga
Built
1892-93; 1913
Heritage-Designated 1986
For: Bank of Montreal
Architect: Cecil Evers & John Charles Malcolm Keith;
Alfred Arthur Cox
Contractor: Westholme Lumber Co (1913)
ARCHITECTURE:
Hochelaga, an old native word for the present site of
Montréal, was originally the residence of managers of the
Bank of Montreal. As F.M. Rattenbury designed the Bank
of Montreal at 1200 Government St, Downtown, his name
was long associated with the house. However, Rattenbury
merely lived here briefly while his own residence on Beach Drive in Oak Bay was being built. As there are similar
details in Rattenbury’s residence, now Glenlyon School, he
probably borrowed them from Evers and Keith.
This two-storey, side-gabled, Shingle-style house, now
encased in aluminum siding, was an unusual house for
Victoria, with its cladding of continuous wood shingles with
no break at the corners. On the rear or garden façade there is
a wide, pedimented cross-gable; it has a sleeping porch and is
jettied on modillions. Below to the left is a wide, two-storey
angled bay, and to the right is a one-storey, half-round bay
under a balustraded balcony. On the left rear a full-height
angled bay below a balcony wraps around the corner. The
roofline is flush with the wall at gable ends and overlaps only
slightly at the soffits; it has short returns around the corners
under the gables and built-in Yankee gutters above the roof
edge. The staggered roofline of the front façade exhibits an
unusual, broken Queen Anne pedimented gabled dormer to
the right of a shallow, gabled, full-height box bay with returns
on the gable. A long, round-arched leaded window is centred
in the bay. To the left of that the remains of the porte-cochère
form an entry porch. There is a newer oriel bay on the main
floor to the right of the bay. Three ribbed and corbelled brick
chimneys, which were painted white for many years, are
now restored.
In 1913 A.A. Cox designed a two-storey, three
bedroom addition which cost $3,000. At the same time, Cox
designed a $20,000 one-storey rear addition for the Bank of
Montreal at 1200 Government St, also built by Westholme
Lumber Co. An inset entrance on the front left corner with
large curved openings was later enclosed. The various bays
and balconies have undergone alterations. “Xs” replaced the
original simple square balusters prior to 1969.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1892-1912: Archibald J.C. Galletly (c.1848-1914)
was the first manager of the Bank of Montreal’s Victoria
branch in 1891, in the old Bank of British North America
Building on Government St. Archibald was born on the
Greek Island of Corfu to Margaret and Col. Frederick
Galletly, commander of a regiment on the island. The
family moved to Montreal c.1878, and Archibald joined the
Bank of Montreal. He worked in Brockville, Brantford, Port
Hope, Halifax, and Victoria, where he was manager 1891-
1912, and then retired. His first wife, Jeannie Geraldine
(née Surrie, c.1850-1904), and daughter Jessie McDuff
(1883-1904) died on the SS Clallam when it sank off Trial
Island in 1904. In 1905 Archibald married Margaret May
Cox in London, ENG. In 1914 he collapsed and died at the
Clover Point Rifle Range, apparently of a seizure. Margaret
Galletly remained in Victoria for about 16 years, then
moved to Europe. She died in Rome in 1935.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
Three other Bank of Montreal managers lived here.Three other Bank of Montreal managers lived here.
1912-14: James Sutherland Chisholm Fraser (c.1863-
1914) became manager in 1912, after managing the
Rossland branch for 12 years. He married widow Laura
Martin Clinton (née English, 1873-1958, 528 St. Charles
St, Rockland) in 1903. He died of ptomaine poisoning
while in Toronto.
1914-24: Alexander Montizambert
(b. Québec 1854-1930) and Emilie (née Archibald, b.
Belleville, ON 1864-1940) was transferred from Ontario
to replace Fraser. Alexander joined the Bank of Montreal
in 1872, worked in Nova Scotia and Ontario, then was transferred to replace
Fraser. He retired in
1924.
1925-34: Ernest
Willet McMullen (b.
Belleville, ON 1873-
1957) worked with the
Merchants’ Bank of
Canada in Manitoba,
Alberta and Victoria.
When this bank merged
with the Bank of Montreal
he became manager of the
main branch here. Ernie
was involved in many local organizations, including the
Chamber of Commerce, Navy League, Union Club, Pacific
Club and the Masonic Lodge.
The house was vacant several years, then non-Bank of
Montreal people moved in.
1938-39: Cdr. Rupert Wainman-
Wood, RCN, and his wife Marjory.
1941-63+: Warren
Hilton (b. St. Louis, MO 1874-1958) and Adele Petranella
(née Nelson, b. Chicago 1893-1982). Warren graduated
from Harvard and Washington universities, was financial
advisor to a number of large US corporations, and secretary
of Western Steel Corporation. He lectured in psychology,
founded the Society of Applied Psychology and wrote 12
books. Warren and Adele travelled the world, then lived in
the Hollywood Hills before coming here in the mid-1930s.
Adele lived here for some time after Warren’s death.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:
• Map of Victoria's Heritage Register Properties
• Rockland History
• Rockland Heritage Register
• This Old House, Victoria's Heritage Neighbourhoods,
Volume Three: Rockland, Burnside, Harris Green,
Hillside-Quadra,
North Park & Oaklands
