ARCHITECTURE:
Hochelaga, an old native word for the present site of Montréal, was originally the residence of managers of the Bank of Montreal. As F.M. Rattenbury designed the Bank of Montreal at 1200 Government St, Downtown, his name was long associated with the house. However, Rattenbury merely lived here briefly while his own residence on Beach Drive in Oak Bay was being built. As there are similar details on his residence, now Glenlyon School, were likely borrowed them from Evers and Keith.
This two-storey, side-gabled, Shingle-style house, now encased in aluminum siding, was an unusual house for Victoria, with its cladding of continuous wood shingles with with no break at the corners. On the rear or garden façade there is a wide, pedimented cross-gable; it has a sleeping porch and is jettied on modillions. Below to the left is a wide, two-storey angled bay, and to the right is a one-storey, half-round bay under a balustraded balcony. On the left rear is a full-height angled bay below a balcony. The roofline is flush with the wall at gable ends and overlaps only slightly at the soffits; it has short returns around the corners under the gables and built-in Yankee gutters above the roof edge. The staggered roofline of the front façade exhibits an unusual, broken Queen Anne pediment-gabled dormer to the right of a shallow, gabled, full-height box bay with returns on the gable. A long, round-arched leaded window is centred in the bay. To the left of the bay the remains of the porte-cochère form an entry porch. There is a newer oriel bay on the main floor to the right of the bay. Three ribbed and corbelled brick chimneys, which were painted white for many years, are now restored.
In 1913 A.A. Cox designed a two-storey, three bedroom addition which cost $3,000. An inset entrance on the front L corner with large curved openings was later enclosed. The various bays and balconies have undergone alterations. Diagonal crosses replaced the original simple square balusters prior to 1969. In 1913 Cox also designed a $20,000 one-storey rear addition for BMO at 1200 Govt, also built by Westholme Lumber Co.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1892-1912: Archibald James Campbell Galletly (b. Ionian Islands, Greece 1849-1914) married first wife Jane Geraldine “Jeannie” (née Mooney, b. Anerley, Sur, ENG 1856-1904) in QC in 1881, when he was a BMO accountant in Halifax, NS. [Son of Maj Frederick Adam Galletly (1827-1882) and Margaret Taylor. Posted to Artillery Store Staff, Montréal in 1866, he returned to ENG in 1871 and retired in 1873 as Vice Commissary.] Archibald was educated at Cheltenham Coll, ENG and came to Canada where he worked for BMO in ON and NS. He then came here as BMO’s first manager from 1891-1912, then retired. Jeannie and daughter Jessie McDuff (b.Halifax, 1883-1904) drowned 8 Jan 1904 when SS Clallam sank off Trial Island. In 1905 Archibald married Margaret May (née Cox, b. NSW, AUS 1874-1935) in London, ENG. In 1914 he collapsed and died at Clover Point Rifle Range from complications of arteriosclerosis. Margaret remained here until 1919 when she moved to Rome.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1912-14: James Sutherland Chisholm Fraser (b. Glengarry, ON 1862-1914) married widow Laura Martin Clinton (née English, b. San Francisco, CA 1873-1958) (528 St. Charles St, Rockland, TOH3) in New Westminster, BC in 1903. After managing BMO’s Rossland Branch for 12 years, he became manager here in 1912. He died of poliomyelitis in Toronto. 1914-24: Alexander Montizambert (b. Québec City 1854-1930) married Emilie Ponton (née Archibald, b. Belleville, ON 1864-1940) in Belleville in 1889. [His father was Lt. Col. Charles N. Montizambert, Commandant “B” Battery and Asst Insp. of Artillery, Kingston, ON, 1884.] Alexander joined BMO in 1872, worked in NS and ON, and was transferred here to replace Fraser. He retired in 1924.
1925-34: Ernest Willet McMullen (b. Belleville, ON 1873-1957) worked for Merchants Bank of Canada in MB, AB and Victoria. When it merged with BMO he became manager of main branch here. Ernie was involved in many local organizations, including Chamber of Commerce, Navy League, Union Club, Pacific Club and Masonic Lodge.
The house was vacant several years, then non-BMO people moved in.
1938-39: Cmdr. Rupert Wainman-Wood, RCN (b. Cowichan Bay, BC 1896-1971) and Marjorie Johns (née Burrill, b. Yarmouth, NS 1902-?) married in NS in 1920. Wainman-Wood had a distinguished naval career and was the only commander on the 1939 navy list who stayed in the navy after 1945, retiring in 1946 with the rank of Capt. Marjorie, a Mayflower descendant, was presented at Court in London in 1933. In 1979 she was living in St. Andrews by the Sea, NB and was a noted antique dealer.
1941-60s: Warren Hilton, Barrister & Solicitor,psychologist (b. St. Louis, MO, USA 1874-1958) married his third wife Adele Petranella (née Nelson, b. Chicago 1893-1982) in Yuma, AZ, USA in 1939 and then moved here. A graduate of Harvard and Washington universities, he was an agriculturist when he registered for the WWI draft in 1918. He was financial advisor to a number of large US corporations and for some years, secretary of Western Steel Corp. He lectured in psychology, founded the Society of Applied Psychology and authored 12 books. He became a world traveller after he retired in 1922. Adele remained in the house for a few years after his death.