ARCHITECTURE:
Ward Investment Co built at least five houses on McKenzie, during their short but busy career (1911-13: 1220, 1228, 1264, 1267 & 1268). Several are vaguely similar. This Arts & Crafts Craftsman bungalow is almost identical to #1261. It has a dominant front gable with gable extension over a ¾-width porch. Tapered, shingled piers and square columns support the heavy woodwork in the gable. Shingles also cover the lower floor and the gables.The house has wide eaves with exposed rafter-tails and a shouldered, corbelled chimney, bracketed by small art-glass windows. There’s also leaded glass on a window in the entry. On the right side, there is a large cantilevered box bay with gable and brackets. Other features include stubby birds-mouth bargeboards with applied blocks, narrow drop-siding, porch railings with arrow-shaped scroll-saw work, and a lean-to roof at the rear. The original plans show an arch from the entry into the hall, and built-in bookcases and seats around the fireplace. The six-room house included two bedrooms, and a sewing-room.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
Little is known about the house’s earliest tenants. William W. Steinmetz lived here in 1914 and was secretary of the Jordan River Lumber Co. By 1917 Frederick H. Graham of White Lunch was the occupant.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
The Mayne family moved in by 1921 and lived here for the next 30 years. Thomas Henry Mayne (1879-1947) was a BC civil servant. Born in Dorset, England, he came to Victoria in 1914. That year he married Annie Jane Strachan (1884-1960) of Gordon Head, daughter of Andrew and Isabella (Taylor) Strachan (215 Wilson St, Vic West). Thomas was an active member of the Victoria, later the CPR, Lawn Bowling Club. He was also a member of the Army and Navy Veterans of Canada. Annie lived in this house for about two years after Thomas died, and was living in Saanich when she died.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:
• This Old House, Victoria’s Heritage Neighbourhoods,
Volume Four: Fairfield, Gonzales & Jubilee
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