ARCHITECTURE:
Oakley is a two-storey, cross-gabled Queen Anne house with a gable-on-hip roof behind a front-facing pedimented gable. There is a gabled two-storey square bay on the left side, and a gabled two-storey angled bay on the right. All three main gables are pedimented and bracketed, and have decorative bargeboards. A wide box bay on the left front is separated from the verandah beneath by a wide belt course which continues around the house. The wrap-around verandah is shallower on the right because of the large angled bay, and has an unusual rounded and cantilevered roof. The verandah has chamfered posts on stone piers with stone balustrades on the entry steps. The house is clad in drop siding, the gables and belt course in fishscale shingles. The foundation is granite. The house was converted to a duplex in 1972 by G. Raps. The upper-storey box bay attached awkwardly on the left front is a later addition with Arts & Crafts windows.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1893: Lumber merchant Ewen Morrison (1860-1937) built this house in 1893 for $2,000, but never lived here.
1895-97: The Hon. Archer Evan Stringee “Archie” Martin (b. Hamilton, ON, 1865-1941) and Emily Mary (née Read, b. Toronto, ON 1863-1940) married in 1889. Archie was educated in Ontario and Belgium, and was called to the Manitoba bar in 1887 and the BC bar in 1894. He had an extensive law career, eventually becoming Chief Justice of BC in 1937. He retired in 1940. Archie was the brother of lawyer and judge Alexis Martin (1598 Rockland Av).
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1898-1906: Percy Wollaston (b. Leeds, ENG c.1826- 1909) and Catherine Agnes (c.1826-1901) immigrated to Fairmont, MN, in the 1860s. Percy was a banker there for many years. They retired to Victoria c.1890. Their son Percy Wollaston, Jr was the long-time financial manager of Wilson Brothers, wholesale grocers. Percy lived at 1732 Oak Bay Av, where his father died in 1909.
1907-17: Owner William McLean was a traveller.
1918-21: Retired ranchers John Reginald Redpath (1871- 1951) and Florence Amelia (née Botterall, 1872-1944) came from Montreal.
1923: William E. McIntyre, an agent with Mutual Life insurance.
1925-26: Liberal-Conservative and taught at Tillicum and Cedar Hill Schools, then Esquimalt High School from 1917. In 1926 she became principal of that school – the first woman high school principal in BC. For unknown reasons she gave up the position to Clive Kelly the next year. Gwen taught English Literature, French and Drama. The Esquimalt Drama Club always took top honours in the Greater Victoria Drama Festival, and she received the Canadian Drama Award in recognition of her contribution to the performing arts. Gwen was a world traveller, collector of antiques, patron of the arts, student of Shakespeare and a popular teacher. Association secretary William Duck.
1927: Basil S. Hartley, a teacher at Victoria College.
1928: James Travis, a seedsman, and his daughters Jean, a student at the Normal School, and Winifred, a steno with BC Cement.
1930-41: George Holt (b. London, ENG 1885-1960) and Ethel Irene (née Bird, b. Manitoba 1891-1957). In 1913, in a double ceremony with his sister Ruby and her fiancè Edwin Parsons, George married Ethel, who came to Victoria in 1910. George, partner in the plumbing firm Thacker & Holt, came to Victoria with his family in 1891. His father, contractor and builder William Curryer Holt, constructed their first Victoria home, 408 Alpha Tce in Burnside, in 1892 [from 1987-2013 that house was the headquarters of Vintage Woodworks]. As a member of the congregation, William volunteered as construction manager for the building of the 1891-92 Centennial Methodist Church (612 David St, Burnside).
1942-47: Retired schoolteacher Ethel Alford (b. ON 1894-1947) taught at Calgary High School for 26 years.
1948-50: John C. and Rebecca J. Stillman; John was proprietor of The Pines rooming house at 1246 Balmoral Rd.
1951-56: Victoria Police Sergeant Robert Thomas Mair (b. Victoria 1916-1964) and Phyllis Muriel (née Laycock, 1911-1979). Robert served with the RCAF in WWII.
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