1521 Amelia Street

ARCHITECTURE:

This is one of the three brick Italianates on Amelia, and the designer has effectively used cement parging to emphasize design details on the 2-storey octagonal bay. The hipped roof now lacks its corbelled chimney. It has a nicely restored front porch, though it is missing the ornate acanthus capitals. The round, fluted columns are echoed on the inner wall with flat fluted half-columns or pilasters. The panelled front door assembly appears to be original. The early brick kitchen extension in the rear has a rare ceramic Victorian chimney pot.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

Thomas Deasy moved to this house from 1525 Amelia St in 1892, and lived here briefly. Seaman Alexander Swanson lived here in 1895, and by 1897 drygoods clerk Robert Henderson Donogh was the listed resident. In 1900, carpenter William Henry Souden (1851-1932) took up residence here with his wife, Ada “Ruth” (Hambley, 1854-1935), and two daughters Olive and Edna, who married four months apart in 1905. The Soudens came to Victoria from the U.S. in 1884. William and Ruth lived in this house until 1917, then lived in 1525 Amelia St until 1931, before moving to Vancouver.

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

William Halliday, a secretary with Cameron Construction Co, lived here in the early 1920s. By 1929, longshoreman Robert James Cleland (1877-1951) and his unmarried sisters Elizabeth Jane (1861-1936) and Mary (1854-1937) were the residents. All three were born in Ireland, and came to Victoria in 1911. Robert was a shoemaker before coming to Canada. He lived here until c.1940.

By 1946, William Otto and Ellen Agnes “Nellie” (Richardson) Clunk were the residents. They lived here until 1954. William was born in Victoria in 1903 to pioneers who arrived here in the late 1850s. He was a printer when he married English-born Nellie in 1926. William stayed in the printing trade as a compositor for 50 years and was the Secretary-Treasurer of the Allied Printing Trades Council. Nellie died in 1978 at 73, William in 1988.