ARCHITECTURE:
This Georgian Revival-style, roughcast-stuccoed house, designed by Percy Leonard James, with its flared, hipped and ridged roof, is located on a quiet cul-de-sac on the northeast edge of Rockland. Its symmetrical front façade is dominated by “a half-domed porch roof supported by two classical columns and two pilasters.”* The Doric columns and pilasters are fluted. The porch roof is of galvanized iron. Nine steps with flared iron banisters lead up to the front entrance. The panelled front door includes a window with a curved top, and two side-lights, all with leaded art glass. “The house still has the original stuccoed gate piers with wrought iron [work] overhead and a stuccoed garden wall. A summer house designed for the original garden has disappeared.”* The iron-work is continued in the fence railings and chimney supports.
Traditional features include the simple box form, the symmetrical layout of windows and doors, the dominant entry, fluted pilasters on each side of the front door assembly, door sidelights, paired upper windows with wooden muntins. Two matched, shallow box bays on either side of the entry have leaded multipane-over-one windows. High on the R side of the house are two large art glass windows on either side of the chimney. The L side has a square conservatory at the rear, now with a deck on its roof. There is a small flat-roofed dormer on the rear. The four tall parged exterior chimneys suggest many fireplaces originally. The house was divided into four suites in 1941, each unit with a fireplace. The external chimneys, visible from the street, have shoulders; the rear chimneys are plain.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1912-23: The house was built for Frank and Kate Burrell in 1912 for $9,000. Frank named the cul-de-sac after his birthplace. Until the late 1930s, 1064 was the only address on Beverley Pl. Frank Burrell (b. Beverley, Yorks, ENG 1861-1928) and Kate Amelia (née Berry, London, ENG 1861-1925) came to Victoria 1890 and married here in 1891. The Burrells first resided at Burrell was associated from 1891 with the real estate firm Pemberton & Son where he became manager. In 1923 the Burrells moved to Hampton Court Apts at 159 Cook St . They were members of Christ Church Cathedral, where Frank was rector’s warden. From 1927-28 he was living at 4 Richmond Court, 1082 Richmond Rd (moved to 1016 Pemberton Rd). Burrells’ daughter Frances Joan (1896-1985) married William John “Beauchamp” (1879-1923) son of William and Annie Pinder of 1139 Burdett Av. Burrells’ son Frederick “Stewart” (1894-1962) fought in WWI, gassed at Festubert in 1915, and while recovering in Folkstone, ENG, met Belgian refugee Countess Lydie de Clerfay (1898-1967). They married in Paris in 1916.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1930-32: Widow Rose “Winnifred” Ethel Napier Macleod (née Jessop, b. London, ENG 1887-1934) in 1913 married Capt. George Ranald Macleod, 16th Queen’s Lancers, British Imperial Army (b. Glasgow, SCT 1883-1928), youngest son of Sir George H.B. Macleod of Shandon, SCT, who immigrated to Canada in 1908. From 1919-28, the Macleods lived in Rhu, on Gordon Head Rd in Saanich. Winnifred lived in 1064 Beverley until her marriage in 1932, to artist Walter Robert Rose, retired Capt. British Army.
1933-37: Dr. Thomas Wesley Alvin Gray (b. Millbrook, ON 1897-1986) and Eleanor Elizabeth (née Hislop, b. Stratford, ON 1900-2001). Abank clerk, Thomas enlisted in ON in 1916 with 235th Btn, CEF. He was a physician and surgeon by the time of his marriage in 1926 in St. Thomas, ON. They moved here in 1931 and his Victoria office was in the Belmont Bldg at 805 Government St. The Grays lived at 1745 Rockland Av from 1938-64.
1939-41: Shell Oil accountant Richard Frederick Hinton (b. Capetown, SA, 1904) married Doris “Dorrie” “Merrie” Merriman (née Girdwood, b. Victoria 1912-1989) in 1932, when she was an artist living with her parents Edward and Florence Girdwood.
1941: Charles Lewis Bosdet (b. Arichat, NS 1886-1942) converted the house into four apartments, The Drake Apts. A metalist eng, he died accidentally of carbon monoxide poisoning while working under a car at his home, 1998 Forrester St in Saanich.
1954-55: #2: Hollywood actresses Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine’s father Walter Augustus de Havilland (b. Lewisham, Kent, ENG 1872-1968). He died in North Vancouver. 1955: Lt-Col Joan Barbara Kennedy, CWAC (née Fensham, b. London, ENG 1908-1956) married and divorced Norman Kennedy, City of Victoria staff member. Lt-Col Kennedy, driving force behind the establishment of a womens’ army, succeeded Matron-in-Chief Elizabeth Smellie in 1942 as Director CWAC. She died in Victoria and was honoured with a full military funeral.
In 2010 the garage was demo’d to allow for construction of a new house on the left.
* R.J. Cross, The Life and Times of Victoria Architect P. Leonard James. Victoria, BC: Dear Brutus Publishing, 2005, p.41. 1759 Rockland.