ARCHITECTURE:
This imposing Edwardian Arts & Crafts house is constructed of stone. Its height is exaggerated by its high rocky site, long terraced stairway leading up to the entry, the tall verandah piers and tall chequerwork chimneys. The front façade is rigidly symmetrical. The house has a steeply-bellcast, hipped roof with wide front and rear hip-roofed dormers; there are three smaller dormers on the right side and a large one on the left. The roof is slate with metal ridge caps and cresting coloured red. The dormers are clad in slate. The deep, full-width verandah has three heavy granite arches between the four stone piers which rise all the way to the second-floor balcony. Front windows on the first and second floors are separated by granite pilasters and capped by stone lintels. The balcony and verandah balustrades, and the foundation, walls and chimneys are of random rubble. There are granite quoins on corners, windows and chimneys. The balcony and porte-cochère on the right side is a smaller version of the front verandah and balcony; this balcony is now enclosed. The house, built for $10,000, has a commanding view of the Straits of Juan de Fuca.
Although the plumbing permit was issued to Haggerty in 1913, the assessments for 1909-14 were paid by Griffith Richard Hughes (b. North Wales 1865-1941) (1050 Joan Cr, Rockland). Griffith, a chartered accountant, came to Victoria in 1903. He moved to Vancouver in 1927. His wife was Margaret Jane (b. Australia, née Harris, 1858-1942). Architect Ernest Butterfield signed as agent for the owner on the plumbing permit. Improvements valued at $10,000 are listed on the 1914 assessment rolls. In 1915, John Haggerty paid the taxes.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1913-21: John Haggerty (b. Scotland c.1858-1919) immigrated to the United States with his parents at nine years of age. He came to Canada soon after, and in 1879 married Clara Ollena Brown (b. Victoria 1862-1896) in Nanaimo. He was a boilermaker at the time, and was living in Victoria by 1882, at which point he was a teamster. Directories and census records listed him as a housebuilder and contractor by 1891. Clara died in childbirth in 1896. In 1903 John married Alice Louise Whittle (1867-1922), of Portland, OR. Until 1913 they lived at 1140 Fort St, Fernwood, which John built in 1907. John died here in 1919, and Alice lived in the house until 1921.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1923-24: Widower Harry J. Beach (b. Toddington, Glos, ENG 1888-1981) of Beach-Eakins, manufacturers of jams and jellies. He remarried in 1925, to Jean Adams Osborn, a public health nurse in Victoria schools. He was later a BC Government employee.
1926: Alexander G. Smith was principal and resident of the Rocklands Academy. 1929: Retired Lt.-Col. Thomas Fraser Homer- Dixon (1871-1948), his wife Evelyn Anne (née Cameron, 1885-1965) and their daughter, Margaret. They had previously lived at 1015 Moss St, Rockland. This house was vacant in the early 1930s.
1935-43: Resident proprietor May Ethel Cherry (née Cottle, b. London, ENG 1887-1968) converted it to six suites, known as Manor Mansion Apartments. She managed a succession of converted Rockland mansions including 1195 Fort St in 1928-34, 1320 Rockland Av in 1944-46, 834 Pemberton Rd in 1947-49 and 1337 Rockland Av in 1951- 52. She had previously lived at 1141 Fort St, Fairfield. Her husband Harry Scott Cherry (1882-1958), a warehouse foreman with Marshall Wells in Edmonton, didn’t come here until 1945. May died in the Matson Lodge, Esquimalt.
1947-58+: Joseph Stephen Perry (b. Sharron, MA 1886- 1955) and Mattie Ella (née Randall, b. East Bolton, QC 1879-1963) were the proprietors of Manor Apartments and lived in #2. Joseph was a retired hotel operator.
Tenants included: 1936-51: Harold Augustus Tomalin (b. Yorkshire, ENG 1890-1984) and Mona Galloway (née Miller, b. Victoria 1901-1990) married in 1935; Harold worked for BC Government Lands Department. His mother, Elizabeth Tomalin, lived at 1195 Fort St from 1936-52.
1945-52: George Payson Melrose (b. St. John, NB 1892-1956) and Amy Victoria Harris married in 1936. George came to Victoria in 1916. He was Assistant Deputy Minister, BC Lands Department, and worked 34 years for the Aluminum Co of Canada.
1946-63+: Janet “Jennie” Tait (b. Liverpool, ENG 1875-1968) came to Victoria in 1913. She was a housekeeper at Government House (1401 Rockland Av, Rockland) for 21 years.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:
• Map of Victoria’s Heritage Register Properties
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