ARCHITECTURE:
This vernacular Queen Anne residence sits on a narrow lot on one of Fairfield’s main thoroughfares. The two-storey structure is tall and narrow with a medium pitched hipped roof and a 1-storey hip-roofed extension to the rear. The front façade is dominated by its 2-storey angled cut-away bay, adorned with corner brackets and pendants, and capped by a pedimented shingled gable. The bay is balanced by a pedimented front porch with square chamfered posts. Drop siding with corner boards and watertable neatly finishes the exterior. Windows are 1-over-1 double-hung sashes. The front porch appears to have been updated with newer elements including the front door, concrete stairs and wrought iron railings.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
Capt Daniel Jennings Butler (1862-1943), a contractor according to the 1901 census, may have built this house and owned it until the early 1920s, but lived at 966 Fairfield. Born in Newfoundland, Dan came to Victoria in 1887. Dan’s father Capt John William Butler (c.1830-1910), was the skipper of a trade ship and eventually came to Victoria to retire. Dan’s brother, Capt John William Butler (1869-1924) was also a master mariner. They started out together on their father’s ships and then worked on ships on the Great Lakes before coming to Victoria. John joined the Dunsmuir Company, and was eventually made captain of the tug Lorne.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
Dan entered the then thriving sealing trade, and was skipper aboard the Pioneer off the coast of Japan and the Bering Sea. During the Yukon gold rush, Dan spent three years aboard sternwheelers between Whitehorse and Dawson. He eventually returned south and joined the CPR, and served on the Danube, Princess Louise, Charmer and Yosemite. Eventually he became master of the freighter ships Grainer and Forager.
Dan and his wife Louisa (1862-1947) adopted her niece Emma McCoskrie (1897-1983). Emma married lumbermill owner Frederick Charles Adam Wastell (1899-1985) in 1928 and they lived at Alert Bay until they returned to Victoria by 1980 to this house where they lived out the rest of their lives.
The earliest known residents of this house were James (1862-1935) and Ada Rideout who lived here with their children until about 1914. Born in Newfoundland, James came to Victoria in 1907 and worked for the Melrose Paint Co for 25 years.
Donald Owens, manager of the Pacific Market, was here in 1917, followed by Richard H. Simmons in 1921.
George Chalmers (1869-1937) and Charlotte Hamilton (Shegog, 1874-1976) Grant bought this house by 1924, and lived here until the 1950s. Born in Inverness, Scotland, George came to Victoria in 1912 and joined The Victoria Daily Times in 1915 as circulation manager and later the credits division. He was honorary president of the Burns Club. As a widower George married Charlotte in 1915 in Vancouver. She was born in Ireland and was a nurse at the time of their marriage.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:
• Map of Victoria Heritage Register Properties
• This Old House, Victoria’s Heritage Neighbourhoods,
Volume Four: Fairfield, Gonzales & Jubilee
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