ARCHITECTURE:
The many renovations of this home by several owners has created a complex architectural history. New research has confirmed that the original cottage built for the Campbells was designed by Maclure, who called for tenders for the house in 1903. It is believed that it was originally a small, low, hip-roofed cottage. The three windows with unusual sash at the front were a favorite of Maclure’s from this pre-1905 period. He used them on his own home on Superior St and a few other cottages at that time. The 1907 renovation for the Heistermans, also designed by Maclure, raised the roof line, putting a large gable over the original walls of the cottage, which gives it its unusual proportions. In 1913 Burke-Roche called in Maclure in 1913 to do some minor work.*
The completed house boasts many distinctive design elements for which Maclure’s Arts & Crafts homes are famous. Camsona is a front-gabled, 1½-storey Arts & Crafts house with oversized bargeboards and drop finals. There are gable- and hip-roofed dormers on the left side over two cantilevered and bracketed box bays. There are two gabled dormers on the right over one box bay. A small attic window in the upper front gable, surrounded by stucco and half-timbering, sits above a wide, shallow box bay on small brackets. The main floor has a recessed porch to the right of the three small windows with wooden muntins. To the left is a wide cantilevered and bracketed box bay. The shingled house sits on a stone foundation.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1903-06: Mary Campbell bought the property in 1902-03 and the house was built for $3000. George Allen Campbell (1854-1928) and Mary Halsnod (née Ward, 1856-1927) came to Victoria from Montreal in 1889. George was a long-time clothing manufacturer and commission agent, and worked with the Boy Scouts for many years. The Campbells moved to Vancouver in 1906.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1907-13: Bernard Sigismund Heisterman (b. Victoria 1873-1947) and Margaret Farabee (née Arbuckle, b. Memphis, TN 1886-1979) married in 1907 and moved into this house, which they called Camsona. Bernard was the son of Victoria pioneers Charles Henry Frederick and Laura Adams (née Haynes) Heisterman (1521 Shasta Pl, Rockland). Laura was an early school teacher at the mainland settlement of Moodyville. Charles started one of Victoria’s earliest real estate businesses in 1864, which his son eventually took over. Bernard later formed a partnership with James Forman (1000 Terrace Av, Rockland, 609 Toronto St, James Bay) as Heisterman, Forman & Co. Bernard retired in 1945. Both Bernard and Margaret were long-time members of the Victoria Golf Club. Margaret was president of the YWCA during WWII.
1913-47: Hon. Edmund Burke Roche (1859-1948), a member of one of Ireland’s most prominent families, immigrated to the United States and took up farming in Wyoming in the late-1880s. He came to BC as a prospector in 1898 and to Victoria 10 years later. In 1912 he married Elizabeth Blanche Clapham (1864- 1935) who was born in Quebec and came to BC in 1905. Margaret and Edmund lived the rest of their lives at this house.
1947-49: May Ethel Cherry (née Cottle, b. London, ENG 1887-1968) duplexed the house. May was the resident proprietor of 1195 Fort St in 1928-34, 1385 Manor Rd in 1935-43, 1320 Rockland Av in 1944-46 and 1337 Rockland Av in 1951-52 (all in Rockland). She had previously lived at 1141 Fort St, Fairfield. May died in the Matson Lodge, Esquimalt.
*Researched & written by Jim Wolf
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