ARCHITECTURE:
This charming two-storey British Arts & Crafts house is side-gabled and symmetrical. There are front-facing gabled extensions on either side of a wide projecting balcony with sawn balusters. Below the balcony is the entry porch with its massive stone piers and balustrades. On either side of the porch are hip-roofed angled bays.There are hip-roofed box bays on the left and right sides of the house; the left one is cantilevered. All bays have modillions under the eaves, as does the porch roof. The upper storey and gables are half-timbered and stuccoed, the main floor is shingled. The basement is clad in bevelled siding, with stone piers on all corners, and the foundation is concrete. A wide, shingled, shed-roofed dormer was added on the front. Rochfort & Sankey, best known for the Royal Theatre (805 Broughton St)were partners for just three years, until WWI. Rochfort had apprenticed with Samuel Maclure, and the strong finials and decorative bargeboards here are reminiscent of Maclure’s work. The 2,400-square foot house was built with nine bedrooms at a cost of $15,000. Although it was converted to eight suites during WWII, it still stands on a substantial lot.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1912-41: James Oscar Cameron (b. Sparta, TN, USA 1867-1943) and Beatrix (née Freeman, b. Brownsville, TN 1872-1954), the daughter of a judge, married in Carlsbad, NM, USA in 1893. [They also built 1802 Belmont Av in 1912.] A lawyer and shipbuilder, he was president of Cameron Investment & Securities and Cameron Lumber Co, and partner in Cameron Bros Timber Co. He was educated at Cumberland Univ in Lebanon, TN, and called to Texas and New Mexico bar in 1890. James practised law 1900-07 in Carlsbad and was involved in public utilities and ranching. He and Beatrix came here in 1907 and James established Cameron Lumber Co in 1908 with brother Donnell Officer Cameron (b. Sparta, TN 1878-1971), also a lawyer. The mill prospered but a fire in 1917 and another in 1931 halted production as the mill required complete reconstruction resulting in a modernized facility. Three years after James died, Donnell sold out to eastern investors, and it became the Victoria branch of BC Forest Products.
Beatrix, a powerhouse in local music circles. revived Victoria Ladies’ Musical Club in 1930 as Victoria Musical Arts Society for men and women, and was president for two years. She brought many internationally renowned musical performers to Victoria and was a patron of Victoria Symphony. She is credited with organizing Victoria’s first musical festival, and in 1948 sponsored the J.O. Cameron Memorial Pavilion aka Cameron Bandshell in Beacon Hill Park to be used for free concerts. In 1941 they moved to 1262 Rockland Av.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
Tenants: 1942: Gladys Dacre Jancowski (née Barrett-Lennard, b. Port Hope, ON 1888-1970) married master mariner Richard Frederick “Fred” Jancowski (b. ON 1884-1953) in 1909.
1943: Professor of Music William Raven (b. Coventry, ENG 1884-1967) and Doctor of Music Eleanor “Millicent” (née Weston, b. ENG 1886-1955).
In 1944 Beatrix Cameron converted it to 8 suites, designed by architect Hubert Savage.
Tenants: 1947-48: John Anthony Mellander (b. Victoria 1921-1986) and Margaret Scott (née Graham, b. Edinburgh, SCT 1921-1974) later divorced. Victoria architect William Ridgway-Wilson was John’s maternal grandfather.