ARCHITECTURE:
This Queen Anne house, known as The Gables for its many gables, has been extensively renovated; as no early photographs have been found, it is difficult to determine what it originally looked like. The front façade on Fort St is symmetrical, the right on Linden is asymmetrical. The cross-gabled roof sits on a flat roof, with modillions under all the eaves. There are pedimented gables over two-storey angled bays on the front and right side. There are three main entrances fronted by gabled porticoes with square supports. The semicircular windows in three of the gables are recent additions. Most of the house is covered with roughcast stucco. The left wall has its original cladding: square butt shingles flared at the bottom on the second storey, and drop siding on the first storey.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1900-26: Breadalbane was built for Rev. Dr. John and Agnes Campbell, and assessed at $3,500. John (b. Argyleshire, SCT, 1844-1930) came to Canada with his family in 1851, settling in Simcoe County, ON. After earning a BA from the University of Toronto in 1873, he entered the Presbyterian Church and was ordained in 1874. He received his MA in 1883, and 10 years later, his Doctorate from Bloomington University in Indiana. He married Agnes (b. ON 1855-1933) sometime before 1892, when they moved to Victoria. He served the First Presbyterian Church (see 1701 Quadra St, North Park) until retiring in 1912. Rev. Campbell, was known for doing “quickie weddings,” and married over 5,000 couples at Breadalbane.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1927-28: The house was vacant, then divided into five apartments, numbered 1177-1185. There were several longer-term tenants up to 1955:
1930-48: Kathleen Hamber (b. Winnipeg, MB 1881-1973) was the sister of Eric Werge Hamber (1879-1960), BC’s Lt.-Gov. from 1936-41. Kathleen never married, and lived in 1177, then 1179, then in the Marilyn Apts next door at 1195 Fort St. She lived at the Cherry Bend Motel overlooking Elk and Beaver Lakes for her last 20 years.
1934-39: Miss Muriel A. McKay, a BC Government research assistant, in 1179.
1934-38: Retired Rev. John Osborne in 1181.
1938-44: Mrs A.E. Starr in 1183, then 1177.
1944-54: Empress Hotel waiter Frederick and Judith De Witt in 1183.
1944-49: Widow Geraldine D. Pritchard, a saleswoman at George Straith, in 1177.
1946-49: Empress Hotel waiter captain Ernest and Kathleen Bland in 1181.
1950-56: BAPCO paint factory clerk Lorne R. and Winnifred G. Glassford in 1177.
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