ARCHITECTURE:
A modest Craftsman Bungalow built for George Varney for $1800 in late 1913, just as the pre-WWI building boom was starting to decline, is one of the oldest houses in this block. Most of the others were built as Veterans’ Homes after WWII through Wartime Housing Ltd.
This front-gabled house has a small window in the gable, and a front-gabled corner porch inset into the left side of the main gable. To the right of the porch is shallow, cantilevered box bay below a pent roof. The porch gable has sharp bargeboard ends like those on the main gable; square posts and chunky brackets support the porch roof. The front door with bevelled glass is a standard Craftsman Arts & Crafts design. The porch balustrade is solid, the steps are side-facing. A flat-roofed dormer on the right side of the house is likely a later addition. A shallow, cantilevered box bay with piano window is below and left of the dormer. The piano window has art glass. The main floor is clad in double-bevelled siding, the basement and gables are shingled. Panelled doors to the basement garage are under the front porch. The house was likely raised to accommodate the garage and basement.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1913-46: George Varney (b. London, ENG, 1885-1943) married Maude (née Ball, b. London, ENG 1892-1970) here in 1914. A fireman, he came to Canada in 1909, joined the fire department here and by 1911 was earning $750/year and boarding with 22 others at No. 1 Fire Hall on Cormorant St. He joined Victoria City Police 1 Apr 1912 as a constable rising to the rank of sergeant by 1940. Children Vernon F. and Winnifred E. Varney were still living at this address in the 1930s while students. George died of encephalitis at 58. After his death Maud moved to Vancouver, then to San Diego, CA USA.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1949-51: Post Office clerk Douglas J. and Joan Richardson.
1952-70: L.S. Harold William Gollmer, RCN (b. New Liskeard, ON 1922-2019) married Jean Evelyn “Nicky” (née Nickel, b. Outlook, SK 1922-2011) in 1945 shortly after she graduated from Regina General Hospital School of Nurses. Harold joined RCN in Regina in 1940, discharged at the end of WWII and moved here. She worked as head nurse at RJH in Memorial Pavilion run by Dept of Veterans Affairs. He worked for Victoria City Police and by 1956 as a fire fighter with DND.
1970-80: After their divorce, Jean “Nicky” Gollmer remained in the house. She was a director with Victoria Amateur Swim Club for many years. He remarried in 1971, to Dorothy “Dot” Leone (née Dobson, then Sawyer, b. McAuley, MB 1922-2010).