1529 Amelia Street

ARCHITECTURE:

Another 2-storey brick Italianate in the Amelia streetscape, this is almost the twin of 1521 Amelia St, with slight variations in the cement parging. The full-height octagonal bay has narrow windows outlined with parging, and the porch has spindles and fluted columns. The shallow hipped roof is scarcely visible. The doorway never had sidelights but has a large transom; the door is, of course, modern. The office extension fills the space left when 1531 was demolished.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

The Lucas family lived here in the early and mid- 1890s, before moving to Tolmie Av in Saanich. William (c.1830-1903) and Mary Jane (Flynn, c.1833-1908) Lucas were Irish immigrants who came to Ontario c.1850. They had five daughters and three sons, and moved to BC with six of them in the late 1880s (two daughters were married in Ontario). William was a shoemaker and farmer. Son John (1866-1919) operated a hotel in Rossland, BC, during the Klondike Goldrush. He married Dora Gall in California in 1905, and pursued mining activities in Nevada before returning to Victoria to be a wholesale paper merchant. Son Oscar (c.1874-1924) was a long time member of the editorial staff of the Times and the Colonist. He married Ontario native Beatrice Smith in 1905. They later moved to Seattle. Son Alexander (c.1872-1921) was a member of the Provincial Police until his death. He married Agnes Elizabeth Kirch (1878-1958) in 1896. Unmarried daughters Joanna (1868-1932), Mary (1857-1942), and Bessie (1878-1962) remained at the Tolmie Ave family home for many years. Mary was a school teacher for 47 years; she retired in 1932.

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

During the late 1890s until 1900, Robert Wentworth (1852-1929) and Margaret (Huckerby, 1862-1946) Higginbottom were the occupants. Robert operated a provisions store on Johnson St. Lee Garret (1869-1907) and Anna Charlotte (Adrian, 1873-1946) Burns lived here until 1904. Lee was the proprietor of the Bee Hive Saloon on the corner of Broad and Fort Streets. Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, Lee came to Canada in 1886. In 1891 he married Anna, who came to Victoria from Poland in 1888. Frank Keown, a painter, lived here from 1909-1911. BCER motorman Sydney Clarkson, of Yorkshire, England was the next resident. He left this house several years after his marriage to Laura Louise Cole in 1911. Severne Therriault, widow of Herbert, lived here with her son Frederick in 1914. By 1917 James Rowe, a riveter at the Yarrow shipyard, was the listed occupant. Various other renters lived here during the 1920s.

The 1930s and ’40s marked a period of Chinese occupancy at this house. City Directories did not list any names until 1937, when Mrs Lee Shee was the resident. She lived here until c.1940. Labourer and cook Fong Wong and his wife Lee lived here during the 1940s.