ARCHITECTURE:
619 Avalon plays an important function in the rhythm of this heritage streetscape, providing a vertical contrast to its low-pro le neighbours. This two-storey, hip-roofed Itali‐anate house, which is missing its elaborate topknot and its corbelled chimney, has multiple sandwich brackets under the eaves. Vertical and diagonal drop siding decorate the panelled frieze, and the areas under the bay windows. There is a two-storey angled bay on the right front and a one-storey entry porch to its left. The lower bay has a pent roof in line with, but separate from, the hipped roof of the porch; both roofs have fishscale shingles. The porch has chamfered square posts and fretwork brackets but is missing its original cresting. A box bay with a hipped roof was later added on the right side. There is a gabled exten- sion at the rear. Most windows are one-over-one sashes with horns. The house is clad in drop siding, and has a concrete foundation covered in vertical drop siding. Assessed for $750 in 1892, this house dropped to $400 in value in 1894 during the worldwide depression, and increased to $1,200 in 1897. The property was first in Fred’s name, then Elizabeth’s from 1897.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
Fred Jackson (1870-1940) and Elizabeth Lorimer (1874-1923) were born in Victoria, married in 1892 and lived in this house for the rest of their lives. Fred was the son of English Anglicans, William Jackson, who came to Victoria in 1862 on the Cyclone, and Annie Mead who came around the Horn in 1864 on the Himalaya with young son William. William Snr. was a druggist and doctor at the Marine Hospital in Victoria West. When he died in 1890, Fred and brother William took over the pharmacy.
Fred, a member of the James Bay Athletic Association (JBAA) rowing team, competed in regattas around the NW; and he was the baseball team’s star pitcher in 1888. Elizabeth’s Scottish Presbyterian parents Lily Main and William Lorimer came from Uddingston, Glasgow, in 1870. William was a draughtsman on the Dallas Hotel and foreman metal pattern maker for Albion Iron Works. Elizabeth’s siblings included Christina Widdowson (624 Avalon Rd) and William A. Lorimer (122 South Turner St, James Bay).
Like sister Christina and sister-in-law Elsie Lorimer, Elizabeth was a teacher at South Park School before her marriage. Fred retired after her death and spent much time fishing and gardening at his summer home on Saanich Inlet, near his brother Richard (427 Parry St, James Bay).
The house was inherited by son William Herbert Jackson, who sold it in 1945.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
Since 1979 it has been owned by librarian Jane Taylor, who has restored the house. In 2013 she received an Honourable Mention at Hallmark Society Awards Night for her many years of work on the house.