1128 Topaz Avenue

ARCHITECTURE:

This is a late 1930s hip-roofed bungalow with unusual Craftsman Bungalow features. These include double gables on the front with shaped bargeboard ends, a chamfered, battered porch post on a clinker brick pier, a side trellis, tapered window casings, and exposed rafter tails. The material features of this late 1930s house include wide, rough cedar shingle siding, concrete steps and iron railings, and plate glass windows. The kitchen located to the left rear side has a hip-roofed box bay with horizontal tripartite windows. The back porch off the kitchen has a shallow projection beneath the main roof, with two sets of steps. There are two vertical tripartite windows on either side of the front gables on the main body of the house. All the front windows have diamond-shaped, zinc-camed upper panels. The gables have brackets under the peaks and patterned shingles above a denticulated string course. There are two Craftsman-style brick chimneys; the front chimney is exterior and through the roof, located in the right corner between the gable and the main wall. The foundation is of exposed concrete.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

Construction of this house was supervised by Robert Francis Dalziel (1893-1980) for himself, his wife Irene “Hazel” (Dodd, 1899-1991), and their three sons. They were both descendants of early Victoria-area pioneers. Bob’s mother Frances (1872-1928) was the eldest daughter of butcher James Holness and Esther Shorland, who were married in Victoria First United, also known as Victoria Wesleyan Methodist, in 1864. In 1890 Frances married Harry Dalziel (1864-1932), a machinist who immigrated to Victoria from Scotland in 1883.

Hazel’s father, butcher James Dodd (1867-1931), was the eldest son of hotelkeeper Martin Dodd and Janet McDonald, who came to Victoria from England and Scotland, respectively, in 1862, and married in the same church as Bob’s grandparents in 1863. Hazel’s aunt Euphemia Dodd married Joseph William Rowland, proprietor of the famous Burnside Hotel at the corner of Burnside and Admirals Rds in Saanich.

Hazel’s mother Isabella “Isabel” Reid (1873-1955) was born in North Saanich to Emily Wain (1856-1923) and William Mcdonald Reid. Emily’s father Henry Wain (1826-1914) was on the first and second voyages of the HBC’s Norman Morison in 1850 and 1851, going back to England as a crew member on the ship in between. He later married Sarah Davis in England and brought her and two-week-old Emily to Victoria in 1856 on the Princess Royal. Emily’s sisters married Horth brothers of North Saanich. Isabel’s father William died when he was crushed by a clydesdale, and Emily married William Bull, who adopted Isabel. Isabel and her younger sister Edith survived the Point Ellice Bridge disaster of May 1896, but their two friends were drowned.

For some years Bob’s father Harry was foreman of Cousins Bros sash and door manufacturers on Garbally Rd. In 1916 he established Dalziel Box Co Ltd, manufacturinng wooden boxes and shingles, at 501 Ellice St, later numbered 2851 then 2800 Bridge St, with sons James (formerly a realtor) as bookkeeper and Bob (formerly with Restmore Manufacturing Co) as a planer. Sons John and Edward joined the firm in the 1920s. Harry died in 1932 from injuries received after getting a lift home in a truck which collided with a streetcar on Hillside Av. The brothers were equal partners in Dalziel Box, although James (70 Gorge Rd E, Burnside) became manager with Bob and Edward as company directors. Bob retired in 1948; he and Hazel celebrated their 60th Anniversary just seven weeks before his death in 1980. Dalziel Box Co was still in business in 1979.

The family lived beside the property at 2915 Prior for several years. Hazel bought this land from BC Land & Investment Agency in April 1939 for $441. They estiumated the final cost at $4000 for the building permit. Descendants still have bills and figures for all aspects of the purchase and construction. There is also a letter of August 1939 to Hazel from the Dominion Bureau of Statstics, Construction Branch, requesting that they keep a complete record and send in forms to the Branch in January 1940, for the annual survey on construction in Canada. The final cost was $6801

The Dalziel brothers were also part-owners of Shawnigan Lumber Yards Ltd, and Bob cut the lumber himself in their sawmill: clear cedar for the structure, maple for the dining room panels, and arbutus for interior trim. Much of the materials and supplies were also from Shawnigan. Bob hired day labour for general construction, and subcontractors for particular jobs, including: Caleb “Jack” Horspool for concrete and brickwork of the foundation (including waterproofing), chimneys, clinker brick pier, retaining walls, sidewalk and steps ($944); Alfred Bossi, plastering ($333) – it was left to dry for some time before the family moved in, so it would not crack; B.R. Bonner, plumbing and heating ($1400); Thomas McDonald, tile work ($397). Bob used services and materials from Smith Bros. Foundry Ltd; McLennan, McFeely & Prior (switch plates, etc); Messerschmidt & Sons Glass (zinc-camed glass); and Evans, Coleman & Johnson Bros (Maple Leaf tile). The walls retain their original paint, hand rubbed darker at the bottom of walls, lighter at the top. The marble fireplace was never lit, to avoid sparks on Hazel’s carpets and smoke stains. The bathroom fixtures, still original, were ordered at the 1939 New York World Fair. The kitchen retains its original Pella windows with special screens.

The gardens ($95), including three ponds (extant), were by Hayato “Harry” Takato who in 1907 opened the Japanese Tea Garden on the Gorge with partner Yosyhijiro Kishida. Kishida’s father Isaburo designed those gardens and then Japanese gardens for Jennie Butchart at Todd Inlet and for James Dunsmuir at Hatley Park.

The house remained in the Dalziel family until 1990, when granddaughter Dalene Paine sold it to Ruth and Ian McAllister. The McAllisters asked the City for Heritage Designation in 2008.