ARCHITECTURE:
This 1920s Arts & Crafts bungalow nestles amongst Garry Oaks on a sharply sloping lot on Smith’s Hill to take advantage of a fine southern exposure. From the street, the house appears to be a low-profile, one-storey bungalow, but the rear has a substantial two-storey form.
The cobblestone chimneys immediately declare the Arts & Craft pedigree, and this is reinforced by several other elements, particularly the sharply-pointed rafter-tails, wide eaves, and large, simple roof brackets, plus wood-and-stucco half-timbering in the front gable. The entire house is covered in shingles in an alternating pattern of narrow and wide courses.
The cottage, likely built by a building contractor for himself, has a steep, multi-hipped roof, with a gabled front extension. This extension currently has a side-facing front entry on the left, approached up two concrete steps with rounded corners. Plans at City Hall indicate this was originally an open porch with a curved arch and entry on the right side, off the driveway. (There is no record of when this was enclosed, but the two front extension windows are casements, contrasting with double-hung sashes elsewhere, and there is an unusual arrangement of eavestroughs, mounted on the roof itself, above the rafters.)
On the right side, the house has a shallow, cantilevered box bay with a tripartite picture window. Asymmetrically above it is a hipped-roof dormer. There’s another shallow box bay on the left side.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
The first owners of this house were Cecil Harold (b. London, ENG 1892-1962) and Hazel Winnifred Gray (née Whittaker b. Victoria, BC, 1892-1957). The 1911 census shows Cecil and brother Laurence G. living on a farm in Nanaimo with parents John and Eleanor Gray (sometimes spelled Grey). They were listed as fruit growers. The family emigrated to Canada from England in 1908. Later in 1911 the family was living at 2826 Blackwood in Victoria where John and Cecil worked as carpenters and contractors. That year father and son built two houses at Blackwood and Montrose including 2821 Blackwood. Cecil was likely the builder of his own house at 1231 Montrose in 1922. Laurence lived nearby at 1211 Vista Heights. Hazel and Cecil were married in Victoria in 1914. They had two children; Elvira Christina and Gladys Eleanor. Hazel was a descendant of the Whittaker family, builders of several Victoria homes including 1203, 1209, 1213, 1217 & 1221 Yukon St, as well as the pioneer Irvine family of Rose Bank Farm on Cedar Hill Rd in Saanich. In 1992 the BC Heritage Trust published “Poetry of Hazel Winnifred Gray”, a collection of over two hundred poems that provide valuable insight into the history of one of Victoria’s pioneer families.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
From 1932-1956 Arthur (b. Conway, WLS, 1891-1975) and Ozella Zoeve (née Thomson b. Revelstoke, BC, 1895-1976) Petch owned 1231 Montrose. Arthur enlisted in the Military in 1915. Arthur and Ozella were married in 1919 at “Sluggett’s, Saanich”. Ozella’s mother was Anne Mary Sluggett, of the farming family that settled near Brentwood Bay. Arthur worked as a plumber.
In 1959 Jack Young and Thelma E. Gillies purchased the house. Jack was a fireman for the City of Victoria where he rose to the rank of Assistant Chief by the time of his retirement in 1983. Jack and Thelma were members of the Hallmark Heritage Society in the 1980s.
This small working-class home had many different owners during its first 30 years. The earliest known owner was Archibald Rankin, a baker at Perfection Bakery, who lived here in 1914. In 1917, Alexander Innes, a salesman lived here, followed by grocer George N. Bayley in 1921. This pattern of occupancy continued until about 1943, when the house was sold to John and Rose McGregor. They lived here until c.1960. John was a helper at Yarrows.
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