ARCHITECTURE:
This is a good example of a 1½-storey Colonial Bungalow with Arts & Crafts detailing. It has a bellcast hipped roof with four matching hip-roofed dormers, one on each side. On the right side is a cantilevered square bay with three one-over-one sashes with horns; on the left side is a stained glass window. The house has wide, closed eaves over a frieze with narrow moulding.The main floor shingles were restored by present owners, who removed 1940s asbestos siding. The basement below the high water table is shingled. Side-facing steps lead to the recessed right corner front porch under the main roof; the porch has chamfered square posts bridged by segmental arches supported on shingled balustrades; a cutaway angled bay with stained-glass transoms is to the left of the porch. The original cresting on the roof and corbelling of the chimney are visible in the archival photograph.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1906-11: Wellington “Clayton” Cronk (b. ON 1879-1966) first appears in Victoria in the 1901 Census, boarding with his sister and brother-in-law, Elizabeth and Frederick Hodges. Clayton spent 1901-03 in Dawson City, YK. He staked a claim on Bonanza Creek, and built the Eldorado Hotel, which later burned down. Clayton, a carpenter, built this house for himself in 1906. In June 1907 he married Clara (b. Sault Ste Marie, ON 1878-1966), daughter of farmers Richard and Ellen Chapman. Clara came here with her family in 1891, and worked as a shirtmaker for some years before her marriage. Clayton was a contractor and hardware merchant until his retirement in 1960. After living at 312 Mary St in Vic West in 1911, he built their subsequent homes, 1454 Ryan St in 1912, then 3544 Quadra St, where they lived from c.1946 until their deaths. The Cronks were married almost 59 years. They were early leaders in the Gosworth Rd Community Church and Sunday School.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1912-17: George Halliday (b. Renfrew Co, ON 1854-1925) and Effie Jane (née Webster, b. Gaspé, QC 1859-1924) married in 1880 and came here c.1906. Their son John Harold “Harry” Halliday (b. Arnprior, ON 1888-1962) and wife Annie Alice (née Gardner, b. Dewdney, BC 1892-1970) still lived in the house in 1917. George ran the hardware store Halliday & Sons on Yates St. They were living at 1928 Crescent Rd when Effie died. George died while living at their daughter’s in San Leandro, CA, USA but he was buried here in Ross Bay Cemetery.
1920-26: William Bolton (b. Thakeham, Sx, ENG 1873-1935) married Mary Ada (née Maidens, b. Portsmouth, Hants, ENG 1874-1953) in 1898. He worked for Randys Nursery; they were farming on Old West Saanich Rd when he died. 1927-28: Nightwatchman Patrick James “PJ” Neary (b. Co Mayo, IRL 1865-1942), following the death of his wife Honoria “Norah” (née Beirne, b. Mayo, IRL 1864-1926).
1929-32: Trained as a mechanical engineer, Ralph Leslie Clarke (b. Victoria 1897-1980) married Enid Fredrica (née Forster, b. Tynemouth, Northumb, ENG 1898-1992) in 1918, but divorced in 1936. Ralph was chief clerk, Liquor Control Board, then a Metropolitan Life Insurance Co agent; Enid was secretary of FOE Ladies Auxiliary. 1933-34: Cashier Caroline Gatehouse (b. Change Islands, NL 1898-1976) married clerk Frederick Worthington Balfour (b. Perth, ON 1897-1969) here in 1922. Fred added 4 years to his age in order to attest for the CEF in 1914; he had shrapnel wounds in both buttocks, but the shrapnel was removed. He later was a carpenter in the Red Cross Workshop, which offered job retraining & employment for injured veterans.
1937-50: Electric Welder John Hayes Knowles (b. ENG 1884-1953) and Agnes Lucy (née Brewster, b. ENG 1887-1964); John was retired by 1941. 1951-62: Maritime engineer Hugh James Burnett (b. Jarrow-on-Tyne, ENG 1907-1986) and Elspeth “Elsie” Robertson (née Bone, b. Buenos Aires, ARG 1910-2003) lived from 1937-45 at 51 Oswego St. Hugh and Elsie both came here with their families in 1911. He was 20 and a sailor, Elsie was 17 and a children’s nurse when they married in 1927 in Vancouver. The Burnetts share a memorial bench in Beacon Hill Park at Mile 0.