836 Cormorant Street

ARCHITECTURE:

The front of 836 presents a severe Italianate face, until one glimpses the hipped roof and front-facing gable above and behind it: Was the façade added later, as a “false front”? The full-height box-bay is matched by another on the west side. Although the house has lost some decorative details, turned rods define the bay corners, and trim-boards decorate the house corners. The porch has square columns, chamfered with capitals, topped with simple curved brackets and scroll-sawn trim. The imposing double front doors are surrounded with sidelights and a transom with art glass.

By the end of the 19th Century, Lower Cormorant St. was almost exclusively Chinese –grocers, tailors, barbers, jewelers, opium sellers, butchers, bakers. But east of Douglas, the population was more mixed. Samuel Styles, who developed most of Amelia St., built at least three more residences on Cormorant. This house and 840 Cormorant St comprise an important part of the Amelia streetscape.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

Owner: 1907-16+: Samuel Thomas Styles (1519 Amelia St) built this house in 1907-08 and owned it until at least 1916.

Tenants: 1909: John Weeks (1857-1930), a miner, and his wife Annie. John came to Victoria from England in 1889.
1910-15: Iron worker James Butterfield (1858-1925) and Mary Louisa (née Symons, 1863-1949) emigrated from England to Victoria in 1907.
1915-17: Teamster Henry Steinberg/Steinberger (b. Victoria 1869-1960) and Flora (née McGillivray, b. Bruce Co, ON 1874-1954) married in Victoria in 1901. Henry’s parents immigrated from Germany and Australia to the Victoria area in 1860-61 and farmed on the Saanich peninsula.

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

1920-28: The Baines siblings Francis John “Frank” Hardcastle (1871-1954), Ethel Maude (1874-1960), Edwin Ward (1876-1925) and Arthur Joseph (1888-1970). Their parents William Baines and Agnes (née McCarthy) emigrated from England via New Zealand and San Francisco, arriving in Victoria in 1872 on the Prince Albert. Ethel, Edwin and Arthur were born here. Frank was the proprietor of Lilley’s Confectionery on the east side of Douglas St, between Johnson and Pandora, which Herbert Alfred Lilley (1004 Catherine St, Vic West) had established in 1879. Frank started working as a chore boy in the late 1880s, eventually became manager, and then owner by the early 1920s. Frank closed the store when he retired in 1948. He, Edwin, a painter, and Ethel never married. Arthur married Victoria-born Ivy Stella Clegg (1895-1973) in 1925. He worked in the confectionery business with Frank.

1929-47: City Directories listed the owners and residents of this address as “Orientals” or “Chinese.”

1948-77: James Codling (b. Gateshead, ENG 1898-1950) and Mary Esther (née Webster, b. ENG 1896-1977) came to Victoria from England in 1929. James, a war veteran, worked as a janitor but died at 52, soon after moving into this house. Mary lived here until her death in 1977 at 81.