ARCHITECTURE:
The Lodge was originally built as a coachman’s house in 1906-07; architect Wm. D’Oyly Rochfort signed the plumbing permit for his boss, Sam Maclure.* Additions and alterations in 1931 cost $3,100. Brig-Gen Hughes spent many years fighting in WWI and then working in Normandy and Picardy; this stuccoed, 1½-storey, Norman Revival-style house with its prominent, conical-roofed two-storey tower with narrow leaded windows and weather vane reflects that ancient area of France. The main side-gabled roof has two gabled dormers to the right and one left of the tower. The round-arched, recessed entrance is immediately to the left of the tower; on the left side is a shallow, hip-roofed, rectangular extension. Two large multi-light-over-single-paned windows have shutters with a pierced fleur-de-lis motif. A pair of matching windows on the far right do not have shutters. The chimneys are stuccoed and have chimney pots.
*Research by Jim Wolf
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
Owners: 1906-30: Alfred Cornelius Flumerfelt (see 906 Pemberton Rd) and Ada Annie (née Kilvington, b. Hamilton, ON 1856-1924) in 1896 moved from Fernleigh, 242 Gorge Rd E, ex-35 and built Ruhebuhne “Resthaven” (835 Pemberton Rd after 1907) designed by Samuel Maclure. In 1906-07 they built The Lodge for their coachman at 855 Pemberton Rd on the NW corner of their property.
Tenants: 1908-11: Benjamin Oswald Taylor (b. Kirkbean, SCT 1832-1912) and Jane “Jeanie” (née Kerr, b. Ratho, SCT 1843-1918) lived there until he retired as coachman in 1911. They lived in Chemainus with daughter Jessie Paterson (b. Glasgow, SCT 1881-1962), who married Master Mariner William Hugh Gillen (b. Guysborough, NS 1872-1930) in 1908.
1911-26: Allen Ernest Mitchell (b. Dorking, Surrey, ENG c.1876-1931) married Margery (née Sherburn, b. Yorks, ENG 1887-?) here in 1911, and they lived in The Lodge while Allen was Flumerfelt chauffeur.
1928-30: The highly decorated Col. Hugh MacIntyre Urquhart (1880-1950) of Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary’s) rented the house with his sister Elizabeth (1882-1968). The Urquharts lived at 1008 Carberry Gardens, in 1931-38, and later at 608 Su’it St.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1931-32: After Flumerfelt’s death in 1930, the parcel of land on which The Lodge stood was split off from the property and sold to Mrs. Sarah Harriet Hughes (née Porter, b. Montréal, QC 1871-1955). Her husband was Brig-Gen Henry Thoresby Hughes, CMG, DSO RCE (b. Exeter, Devon, ENG 1872-1947). He fought in France with 2nd Cdn Div and was Canadian Battlefields Memorial Commission Chief Engineer after WWI, supervising construction of memorials, including Vimy Ridge. From c.1935-47 they lived in 5213 Patricia Bay Hwy (Registered Heritage, Saanich), which he designed. They then lived at 3012 Quadra St until their deaths.
1933-34: Electrical engineer Ernest lan Walter Jardine (b. Egremont, ENG 1883-1969) married university lecturer Olga Helen “Marie” (née Gloy, b. Woodville, NZ 1900-2003) here in 1929. He retired in 1952 as Chief Eng of BC Public Utilities Commission. 1937: Mrs. Grace Randolph Pooley (née Higbee, b. Cincinnati, OH, USA 1866-1937) came here with her husband, Edward Foster Pooley, in 1927 (1337 Rockland Av).
1938-42: Wallace Hunter McMillan (b. Winnipeg 1882-1968) and Gertrude Orna (née Seaman b. Kansas City, MO, USA 1890-1977) came here from Winnipeg. He was an active member of Victoria Gun Club, founder of Coho Club in 1936, and president of Tyee Club.
1943-47: Retired sawmill operator John Prince Myers (b. Sussex, NB 1881-1960) and Lyla Fortune (née Graham, b. Kamloops, BC 1908) married in Prince George, BC in 1928
1948-49: Charles Broughton Bowman (b. Windsor, NS 1867-1949) and Frances Sophia (née Stone, b. ENG 1890-1963). He was in real estate, loans and insurance. Retired in 1936, he moved here with his first wife Catherine Florence (née Bowman, b. Paisley, ON 1871-1942). From 1939-47 he lived at the Angela Hotel, 923 Burdett Av.
1950-51: Retired physician George Albert Cheeseman (b. London, ENG 1879-1951) and Catherine Eleanor (née Bowman, b. Windsor, ON 1894-1964) came to BC in 1905, and married in Vancouver in 1926. He was CPR Railway physician in Field, BC for 30 years. They retired here in 1949. Catherine left the house after his death. [Daughter Rosalie Alma Gower (née Cheeseman, b. Calgary 1931-2013), a nurse, became a commissioner of Canadian Radio-television & Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) and was known for her work in advancing women’s rights and advocating for improved portrayals of women in media.]
1952-57: Mrs. Audrey Mary Hammond (née Lemon, b. Winnipeg 1890-1968), widow of Herbert Renwick Hammond (b. Toronto, ON 1887-1930). They came to BC to farm in 1913. He died near Seton Lake, BC. Audrey, who worked for YMCA and at Spencer’s, lived in Oak Bay when she died.
1961-69: Lt-Col Dr. Alfred “Michael” Warrington (b. London, ENG 1924-2014) and Helen Mary (née Bond, b. Kent, ENG, 1932-2017). Dr. Warrington was in the British Army RAC during WWII. He was wounded in Holland when his tank blew up during the “Bridge Too Far” campaign. He transferred to Egypt after recuperation, and was demobilized there in 1947. With Veterans’ funding he studied medicine at London University and was practicing at Canadian Red Cross Memorial Hospital, Taplow, Bucks, ENG, when he met Helen, RN. They married in 1955, came to Saskatchewan in 1959 and here in 1961. They had no money for a down payment at the time but a local bank manager still gave them a mortgage. He ran a family practice here for eight years before they moved to Vancouver in 1969 with their seven children; an eighth was born there. Dr. Warrington joined the BC Regiment militia in the 1970s as medical officer, and retired as CO of Vancouver’s 12th Medical Co.