Heritage Register
Rockland
1009 Terrace Avenue (ex-3 Terrace Av)
Craigmont
Built
1905; 1911-12
Heritage-Designated 1986
For: Harold & Kate Munn; Sarah Finlayson
Architect: Samuel Maclure
Contractors: Albert Mason (1905); Andrew J. Thompson (1911)
ARCHITECTURE:
Craigmont is an asymmetrical, front-gabled Chalet-style
Arts & Crafts house with wide, bracketed eaves. There is a
flat-roofed dormer on the right and gabled and flat-roofed
dormers on the left. The front façade has a a wide balcony
with sawn balusters featuring hearts between low, square
panelled posts. Below is an entry porch with recessed door
and sidelights. The porch has shallow arches between
shingled, tapered piers. On the upper floor is a bank of
multi-paned leaded lights, on the lower are multi-paned
leaded lights and multi-paned-over-one windows. The
cladding is cedar shingle, with stone foundation. There are
four brick chimneys.
The interior of the home also demonstrates the talents that
new associate C.C. Fox brought to Maclure’s practice. Fox
was trained in the office of C.F.A. Voysey, one of Britain’s
foremost Arts & Crafts architects. Maclure used a cross-axial
main floor design to provide Craigmont with expansive
principal rooms that share a central hall, to maximize the
views and light throughout the house. The Voysey element of
the heart motif is continued on the staircase railings and the
dining room sideboard hardware. However the refinement of the woodwork, the expert use of local woods, and the
meticulous attention to design detailing, such as the built-in
furniture and fireplace mantles, was Maclure’s signature.
When the house was purchased by Sarah Finalyson
in 1911 she commissioned the Maclure firm to complete
a substantial one-storey rear addition. The same exterior
elements were utilized to create a seamless addition that
provided a spacious main floor terrace. The addition also
included more servant quarters and workrooms to ensure that
the home functioned well for its society families.
Poised on a steep slope, Craigmont is located to take in
the views over Oak Bay and the San Juan islands.*
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1905-11: Harold Alexander Munn (b. PEI 1860-1939)
and Kate Stafford (née Williams, then Morrow, b. Victoria
1868-1952). Kate was a widow when she married Harold in
1897. Harold came to Victoria in 1883 and engaged in real
estate and insurance he retired in 1924. He was elected to
Victoria City Council for a number of years.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1911-35: Sarah Susette Finlayson (b. Victoria 1860-1935) lived here until her death. She was the daughter of
HBC Factor and early Victoria mayor Roderick Finlayson
and Sarah (née Work). Sarah never married and
devoted much of her life to charitable activities.
1936-39: Vacant.
1940-82: James Islay Mutter (b.
island of Islay, SCT 1874-1950) and Jean Moffat (née Van
Norman, b. Bobcaygeon, ON 1892-1982). The Mutter
family emigrated from Germany to Scotland and operated
the Bowmore Distillery from 1837-90. They came to BC
in 1891 and settled in the Duncan area, where James and
Jean were married in 1914. James was a financial agent. He
was a North Cowichan councillor for many years, and was
Reeve in 1914 and 1918-19. The Mutters came to Victoria
in 1929. From 1925-45 James was proprietor of the Port
Renfrew Hotel and Store (destroyed by fire in 2003). Their
daughter Isabella married Maurice A. Palmer, manager
of Les Palmer tailors, and they lived in this house in the
mid-1940s. In 1951 Jean remarried, to James Harry Beatty
(1890-1966), a native of Frankford, ON, who came here in
1913. He was the owner of Sprott-Shaw Business School
for 51 years before retiring in 1963. During WWI and WWII, his school trained many radio operators for the RCN
and the Merchant Navy. The school fared well through the
Depression by offering business and commercial training.
James was Victoria’s MLA from 1928-33. He was president
of the Victoria Chamber of Commerce and an active
member of the Rotary Club. Jean remained in this house
until her death.
*Maclure research by Jim Wolf
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
