1021 Catherine Street

ARCHITECTURE:

This is an Edwardian Vernacular Arts & Crafts 1½-storey house with a two-storey cross-gabled bay on the left side in place of the usual large roof dormer. On the right side is an unusual combination shed and gable roofed dormer. Pent roofs separate upper and lower floors on both front and back. It has a recessed corner front porch with two Classical Revival round columns and two pilasters on corner boards.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

1902-32: Annie Eliza (née Webber, b. Harbour Grace, Nfld, 1869-1936) and Darius “George” Butt (b. Exploits, Nfld, 1865-1923) bought the property and built the house. [Note: James “Fredrick” Fell & Co, importers and dealers in groceries, owned this property from 1892 until Fell’s death in 1902.] The Butts had lived on Catherine St from 1900. George, a ship’s carpenter and joiner, worked with Moore & Whittington (1433 & 1437 Vining St, Fernwood). They rented the house out after 1908, but were living here at the time of George’s death. A member of the Ancient Order of Foresters, he was given an AOF burial.

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

Tenants: 1909-13: Richard Jellicoe Hamilton (b. Londonderry, IRL, 1872-1942) and Louise Sophia (née Madge, b. Devon, ENG, 1874-1960) moved to Victoria, rented this house and paid the taxes. They had immigrated in 1887 and 1884 and homesteaded near Virden, MB. Richard’s sister Lucy had married Harry Theodore Barnes in Victoria in 1898. The Barnes were living around the corner on Jessie St (now Raynor Av) when Richard and Louise moved to Catherine. The Hamiltons lived in 1021 with son Richard “Eric” (1894-1976) and daughter Frances Waldron (1900-1999) until moving into their new house next door (1017 Catherine St). Richard sold real estate and ran the Causeway Boat House. From c.1920 he lived in the USA. Louise and Frances lived at 1017 until 1921 then rented it out until 1930-31, when Frances moved to the USA.

Tenants: 1914: Walter Lavette Aylesworth, a barber at Danes & Schultz, later ran the Pender Barber Shop in Vancouver until retiring in 1950. He was divorced.
1915-16: Carpenter and contractor John Ernest and Emily Jane Shenk married in Victoria in 1903.
1917: Ethel Medwin Moon, whose husband Sgt.-Maj. Charles Edward Moon, an electrical engineer, was on WWI active service. They married in Vernon, BC, in 1913.
1918: Returned soldier Frank Plummer, and his new bride, nurse Ruby; Frank, who signed up for WWI in 1915, worked at VMD.

1920: Lt. William George Monaghan, a clerk and accountant with Military District No.11, and his wife Matilda Margaret Hamilton. William served nine years in the Imperial Army, and was discharged in 1906. From North Kingston, NS, he signed up for WWI in 1916, converting from the Canadian Permanent Army Service (CPAS) Corps to the CEF.
1925-29: William Albert and Theresa Ruth Cotching, and their daughters Muriel F. and Dorothy Constance Ruth. William, a CNR, then BCER yardman, retired in 1953. The girls worked at a laundry until their marriages, Dorothy to steam fitter John Raymond Frampton in 1925, and Muriel to general packer Herbert Shand in 1928.

1930: Dorothy’s mother-in-law Flora Felicia Frampton, wife of John Henry Frampton; Flora came to Victoria from the UK in 1928.
1931: James and Margaret Mahon married in Vancouver in 1929. James retired in 1951 after 9 years in the armed services.

Tenants: 1939: CPO Frank D. Harvey, RCN, a cook, and his wife Emily Madeline, and daughter Alice.
1941-44: Henry John and Rose Marie Louise Medland. Henry spent his working life on railroads and in shipyards.

Owners: 1932-67: Louise Hamilton bought 1021 from Annie Butt and moved back in, then lived in 1017 again from 1939-44, and rented 1021 out. From 1945 Louise lived in 1021 until her death. Four of Louise’s Madge siblings moved out from Manitoba and three of them lived in the houses with her: Catherine Maria (1868-1956), Isabel Annie (1017 Catherine St), and Frederick William (1880-1970). Catherine, a retired registered nurse, came in 1925. Ethel Kate, a music teacher, came to Victoria in 1930 and lived and taught at the Metropolis Hotel on Yates St until her death in 1968. Fred came to Victoria in 1946 after his retirement as a CPR boilermaker. Both houses were sold when he moved into a nursing home c.1967.

1021 was purchased by Louise’s nephew John Theodore “Jack” Barnes (b. Victoria, 1899-1985), the son of Harry and Lucy Barnes [see 1909-13: Harry was the manager of Rithet’s Consolidated Ltd for many years – see above]. Jack signed up for WWI when he was 19 in September 1918, too late for him to be sent overseas. He became an accountant and later owned much property. His parents were both living with him when they died.