ARCHITECTURE:
This 1½-storey Arts & Crafts Bungalow is front-gabled with an offset porch extension and two gabled roof dormers. Matching gable details include roughcast stucco with half-timbering, enclosed eaves, curved knee brackets, and finials with drops. Dormer and porch bargeboards are notched around the lower knee brackets. The main floor and basement are clad in shingles, separated by a belt course. Chamfered square posts on battered sandstone piers support the porch gable. The front door is partially glazed with leaded art glass. Sandstone blocks are used on the chimney. The twin front bracketed box bays have triple windows consisting of a fixed central panel with a transom above, flanked by narrow double-hung windows. Front windows feature diamond panes in segmented wood muntins on the upper sashes. Most other windows are one-over-one double-hung with horns. The side box bay has a small triple piano window. Originally the front porch steps were wider and contained within a stepped shingled balustrade.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
This house was built for Isabel and Arthur John Mortimer (1878-1926), son of Nanny and John Mortimer (Ross Bay Villa, 1490 Fairfield Rd, Fairfield), founder of Mortimer’s Monumental Works Ltd. Born in Tacoma, WA, Arthur came to Canada with his family as an infant. Arthur entered the family business after completing his education. In 1910 he married Isabel Robertson (1878-1966), who was born in London, England, and came to Victoria in 1905. Arthur was a member of the Arion Male Voice Choir Club for 15 years, and a member of the Vancouver-Quadra Lodge, AF&AM. After Arthur died, Isabel continued to live in this house until she sold it in about 1940. Arthur’s sister Adela “Dela” (1872-1964) who had been living in Ross Bay Villa with their widowed father, moved in with Arthur and Isabel after John’s death in 1921. Isabel and Dela lived at 1306 Yates St during WWII. They eventually moved to Rose Manor (857 Rupert Tr, Fairfield), where Dela died in 1964, and Isabel moved to Vancouver.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
Widow Mildred Rodgers Fyfe owned the house from 1940 until the mid-1940s. She came to Victoria from Montreal in 1914 with her husband, Erle Walter Reniff Fyfe (1894-1939), who served overseas during WWI.
Robert Keers (1895-1964) and Dorothy Marguerite (Field, 1896-1966) Wood bought this house in the late 1940s and lived here for several years. A dairy product salesman, Robert was born in Gateshead-on-Tyne, England, and came to Victoria in 1914. He served with the 67th Battalion, Western Scots in WWI. Dorothy was born in England and came to Canada in 1908 and to Victoria in 1916. She married Robert in 1922.
Norman (1916-1968) and Doris May (Creed) Hunniford bought this house in the late 1950s and lived here for over 10 years. Norman was a stationary engineer with the Canadian Government.
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