ARCHITECTURE:
Cerriq-Gleision is considered the pinnacle of Maclure’s Chalet style, in this case based on British Arts & Crafts. He had designed other types of chalet houses, eg: 1023 St. Charles St in 1896 and 1009 Terrace Av in 1899-1900, both in Rockland. 1598 Rockland is 1½ storeys and cross-gabled, with a gabled extension on the left side, now enclosed, and a shed-roofed dormer on the right side. The wide front gable is half-timbered with a bank of six windows. The centrally-located front steps lead to an offset and recessed corner entry on the right. It is balanced by a wide cantilevered box bay on the left. The house is clad in shingles, broken by string and belt courses of varying widths. All the windows are diamondpaned leaded lights above single panes, many in banks of four. The foundation is granite. The interior was furnished by one of Britain’s best A&C architect-designers, M.H. Baillie-Scott, with additional pieces from the top American A&C firm, Gustav Stickley’s Craftsman Homes. The house cost $7,000.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1904-06: Alexis Francis Ramsay Martin (b. Hamilton, ON 1871-1938), a “lauded cricketer” and a member of the well-known Victoria legal family (his brother was Archer Martin, 1022-24 McGregor Av, Rockland), was a lawyer and judge. Alexis came to Victoria in 1898; he was a bachelor when he built this house. In 1907 he married 23- year-old Hamilton-native Emilie Alice Innocent Mason. In 1910-11 they rented 1630 Rockland Av while their new house at 925 Foul Bay Rd, Oak Bay was completed.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1907-18: Capt. Richard Pierce Williams, MC (b. Danville, QC 1874-1950) married Georgiana Mills in Danville in 1893. A mechanical eng, he joined the CEF in 1916 and went overseas with 239th O/S Railway Construction Corp. He was awarded the Military Cross for “conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty directing the work of repairing a light railway track during a heavy barrage.”
1918-26: James Alexander Mitchell had lived at 1617 Rockland Av 1905-17, then lived here with brother John E. Mitchell and niece Kate Ethelyn Adair until his death in 1926. She married civil servant James Mavor (b. Compton, QC 1875-1961) in 1927.
1928: Charles and Marion Thomas had lived in 1630 Rockland Av in 1917.
1929-55: Peter Lawrence Naismith (b. Pembroke, ON 1865-1955) married Anne “Annie” Sarah (née McCormack, b. Fort William, ON 1865-1941) in Renfrew, ON in 1891. They came here from AB when he retired from CPR Dept of Natural Resources. Son Lt Andrew McCormack Naismith (b. Bridgeport, NS 1893-1966), student at law, went overseas with 39th Battery CEF in 1916.