ARCHITECTURE:
This British Arts & Crafts-style house is dominated by a signature Rattenbury roof (534 St Charles & 582 St. Charles St): multiple, deep, ridged hips, with three tall, ribbed Queen Anne chimneys. A full two storeys, the house has stucco and half-timbering in the upper storey, and shingles below the high belt course. The Rockland façade has two full-height angled bays, overlooking a garden. The small entry porch on the Linden façade has a hipped roof. The gabled extension on the right side has Arts & Crafts leaded lights and connects to what may be the original carriage-house. The foundation is of split fieldstone. The second floor balcony to the left of the entry now provides egress from the upper suites via fire escape stairs; a rail above the balustrade was added to meet Building Code.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1904-07: Widow Janet “Jessie” Clay (née Strachan, b. Guelph, ON, 1856-1933) paid $4,500 for this house, but lived here only briefly, possibly because of financial troubles, as she had been inveigled by Frank Rattenbury into investing in one his schemes. Janet was married in 1878 in Mount Forest, ON, to Henry Ballantyne Clay (b. Niagara, ON. 1852- 1898). They came to Victoria in the 1880s and opened a bakery that became one of the city’s most popular catering establishments, the Metropolitan Bakery & Tea Room, then Clay’s Bakery & Confectionery on Fort St (renamed The Nutshell Tearoom in 1930). Henry died of Bright’s disease at the age of 46. Jessie moved down the street to 810 Linden Av, until selling to Arthur Tobin in 1909.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1907-28: Edward Everett Blackwood (b. Placerville, El Dorado, CA, USA 1860-1933) and Eliza Jane (née Wallace, b. Victoria, 1864-1924) bought the property in 1907. Edward arrived here in 1888 and that year married Eliza, daughter of Catherine and Charles Wallace (2616 Pleasant St), and granddaughter of HBC Chief Factor, Hon. John Work and his wife Josette Legace. They lived with Eliza’s grandmother at Hillside Farm until building their own house on the Work estate at 2543 Quadra St in 1890-91. Edward was a representative of Northern Pacific Railway for many years, serving aboard several steamships between Victoria and Puget Sound area in the 1880s. He was an agent of Puget Sound Steamship Co when SS Clallam sank in 1904, killing 54 passengers and crew. Edward continued to live here after Eliza’s death. Daughter Eliza Vivian Blackwood (1890-1944) married Charles Harold Chaytor Payne (b. Crouch End, London, ENG 1884-1949) in 1912; they lived in this house until 1924 then moved to Vancouver. Charles married Barbara Molyneux Dash after Eliza’s death.
1925-28: Edward’s widowed daughter Suzette Work Payne (1889-1972) and granddaughter lived with Edward. Suzette married Capt. Frederick Norman Payne (1877-1917) in Croydon, Surrey, ENG in 1916; he died in WWI 17 months later.
1929-71: Dr. Joseph Douglas Hunter (b. New Westminster, BC 1880-1970) and Anita Alice Matthews (née Hunt, b. London, ON 1885-1949) married in 1912. He was son of Joseph Lawson Hunter (b. Aberdeen, SCT 1843-1935), pioneer surveyor, Victoria alderman and BC MPP/MLA (514 Government St), and Francis “Fannie” Ellen Robson (b. ON 1858-1944), daughter of Susan and Hon. John Robson, BC Premier 1889-92 (506 Government St). Hunter attended Corrig Coll and graduated from McGill U in 1907. He practised medicine near Fernie, BC until 1908 when badly burned trying to awaken people when fire destroyed the town. He returned here to recuperate, then went back to help in the relief effort. He served as ship’s doctor on the Empress of Japan, then did post-graduate work in England before establishing a practice here.
He joined the CEF in January 1917 with the rank of Capt, CAMC and was SOS [struck off strength] 31 May 1919. He was attached to Esquimalt Military Hospital. His records note he was treated for TB in 1913 and cured. Shortly afterwards, Hunter retired and entered politics. He was a city alderman 1932-37 and a Conservative MLA 1937-41. During WWII, he was president of the Army Medical Board in Victoria. Son Pilot Officer John Douglas Bruce “Sandy” Hunter, RCAF (b. Victoria 1918-1943) was KIA and buried in Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, GER.
After Anita’s death, Hunter married Hilda Lawrence (née Wood, b. Luton, Beds, ENG 1900-1991). He lived in this house until his death; Hilda sold it in 1971.