ARCHITECTURE:
Memorial Crescent got its present name in 1941 after being originally called Lovers’ Lane from 1893-1908 and Dallas Road from 1909-40. House numbering was virtually non-existent or inconsistent until 1909, making tracing early residents difficult.
Carpenter Burrell Raymond Baukins (or Bawkins /Bankins) built three or possibly four somewhat similar 2-storey Italianate homes on Lover’s Lane in 1892. The first and the last of the group (204 & 252) appear to have been built as a pair, though #252 -which the Baukins family lived in-was slightly more ornate. Over the intervening decades, all four residences have evolved individually.
No evidence has been found as to why he built on alternate lots, or why another carpenter built a modest bungalow simultaneously in the midst of the cluster.
This house has an L-shaped form, with wide drop-siding and fish-scale shingles decorating the window-trim and corner-boards. The shingles are also used as a wide belt-course separating the two floors and a matching belt below the roof-line. Some of the original horned window-sashes have survived. The house has two gables, but decorative blocks on the barge-boards are now missing. The original entry is now somewhat masked by a later shed-roofed porch.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
Burrell Baukins quickly sold this house after building it. Levy Lewis began paying taxes on the property in 1893, although he never lived here. The earliest known resident was Irwin Dixon, a clerk, who lived here c.1893-95.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
The Ottaway family lived here c.1896-1906, and named the house Walpole Cottage. Retired farmer and widower Thomas Waldergrave Ottaway (c.1818-1905) lived here with his son William Edward Ottaway (1860-1931). Born in Wye, Kent, England, Thomas came to Canada with his wife Elizabeth Ann (Allen) and children in 1873. He lived in Toronto for just over 20 years before coming to Victoria in about 1895, likely with his son, William. Elizabeth probably died in Ontario. William Edward Ottaway was a painter born in Dover, Kent, England. In 1895 he married Flora Victoria Eugene Ross (1876-1928), daughter of Alexander Ross and Mary Ann Bastian and granddaughter of Charles and Isabella (Mainville) Ross. (Ross Bay Villa, 1490 Fairfield Rd, Fairfield). She was also sister of Frank Ross (141 Eberts St & 1401 May St, Fairfield), with whom she lived after her mother and step-father died before she married William. Her godfather was Reverend Edward Cridge, who was her mother’s guardian when she was a girl. After their honeymoon, William and Flora returned to live in this house with Thomas, and left the house shortly after his death in 1905.
Several other families resided here until 1910, when the house was sold to George (c.1843-1912) and Anne (Smith, 1841-1925) Barnett. George was a shoemaker born in England. He came to Canada with Anne and his children in 1893 and was living in Manitoba in 1901. The family came to Victoria in about 1906. Anne left the house shortly after George died in 1912, but the house likely remained in the family until the mid-1930s as her son later lived here for a number of years.
This house was rented out for the next 10 years to a number of tenants. James Edward (1877-1951) and Lillian Mary (Hardy, 1886-1975) Barnett lived here from 1922-36. Born in Durham, England, James came to Canada with his parents. He was an accountant for nearly 40 years, most of that time with Pemberton & Sons Ltd, and retired in 1948. Lillian was born in Forest Gate, Kent, England, and came to Canada in 1904. She married James in Winnipeg, MB, in 1905.
Alfred Lewis Victor (1899-1982) and Cora Roberta (Henly, 1905-1970) Green lived here from 1940 until about 1946. Alfred was a painter, born in Middlesex, England. Cora was born in Victoria, the daughter of James Trimble Henly and Maria Jane Nicholl, who lived at 240 Memorial Cr in the late 1890s until about 1900 when they had 1526 Dallas built. Cora and Alfred married in 1922.
By 1949, this house was sold to Ronald Duncan (1920-1973) and Alice Beatrice (Hill) Currie, who lived here for several years. Born in Govan, SK, Ronald came to BC in 1944. He was a mechanic.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:
• This Old House, Victoria’s Heritage Neighbourhoods,
Volume Four: Fairfield, Gonzales & Jubilee
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