ARCHITECTURE:
This side-gabled Vernacular house has a symmetrical front façade. There is a wider side-gabled addition to the rear of the main structure; on the right side is a porch with a gabled extention. A full-width, hip-roofed verandah has four square chamfered posts and two pilasters with capitals, scrollsawn brackets on the capitals, and square balusters. The house is covered in asphalt shingles over the original drop siding. A pair of red brick chimneys, now capped, sit on the ridge of the front roof. This house is representative of many of the early working-class houses in Victoria. Very few of this scale or age survive.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1873-89: In 1874 improvements on this lot costing $300 first appear in tax rolls. James Irving (b. Cumberland, ENG, c.1808-1878) and Sarah (b. ENG c.1819) lived in San Francisco, CA, before moving to Victoria in the early 1860s. He was an usher at the Supreme Court of BC for 14 years until his death. Sarah, a Freethinker, kept boarders until 1889, then lived with her son, Thomas; she left Victoria after 1892.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1890-91: Andrew Rome (b. Manchester, ENG c.1845-1893) and Kate (née Jones, b. Halifax, NS c.1858-1945). Andrew was a traveller and an accountant, and died in Salem, OR. Kate came to Vancouver via Cape Horn with her mother and sister in 1874, and moved to Victoria in 1879.
1891-1919: Hector Dow (b. Greenock, SCT 1838-1927) and Annie (b. NS c.1838-1908) likely married in Eastern Canada. Hector came to Montreal as a boy. In 1858 he travelled to California by ox-team, and in 1889 he came to Victoria. Hector was a machinist for many years. After selling the house, Hector moved to Vancouver.
1926-62: Emily Parsons (b. Ottawa, ON 1873-1964) came to BC in 1924. She worked as a maid, and was a member of First Baptist Church. She moved to St. Mary’s Priory in Langford, BC, in 1962.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:
• This Old House, Victoria’s Heritage Neighbourhoods,
Volume Two: James Bay
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