Heritage Register
Fairfield

1011 Burdett Avenue

Built c. 1890; 1912
Heritage-Designated 1977

For: Edward Johnson

ARCHITECTURE:

The early history of this Homestead-style house is hazy: It may well have been moved here in 1912, when it first appears in official records. The basic 1½-storey box design has considerable decoration applied to the front façade. The main floor has an angled bay on the left and a front door with transom on the right, balanced by a pair of narrow sash windows in the gable. (The faux shutters are a relatively recent addition.) The top window unit has a bracketed pent roof matching the bracketed roofs of the bay and the tiny porch. There are also brackets in the eaves. All these details point to an original date in the 1890s. Johnson’s name appears on 1912 plumbing and water permits for this house and another house next door (now gone), and a 1912 building permit for extensive alterations suggests the houses pre-existed.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

Edward Mainwaring Johnson (1843-1920) moved to Victoria from California in 1878. In 1879 he opened a real estate agency at the corner of Government and Broughton where he was said to have “the handsomest offices of any private business firm in the city.” L.A. McQuade paid taxes on this property in 1913/14. The first known occupant in 1914-15 was James F. Walker, a miner. Andros Taylor, widow of Edward Taylor, lived here in 1917.

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

By 1920, Charles Augustus Manuel (1887-1972) and Emma Rosaline (Southall, 1897-1985) de Macedo lived here. Charles was a process server with the Sheriff’s Office. Born in Leeds, England, he came to Victoria with his family in 1912. In 1919 he married Emma, who was born in Dudley, England, and came to Victoria in 1897.

George Hurst, a waiter at the Poodle Dog Café, lived here in 1923. By 1924, John William (1868-1944) and Selina (Lawrence, 1871-1963) Knight were living here with their unmarried children, Ivy, Minnie and William. Born in Bath, Somerset, England, John and Selina came to Canada c.1904 and to Victoria in 1919. John was a painter.

From 1928-40, Francis Joseph Henry de Macedo (1885-1978), brother of earlier resident Charles de Macedo, lived here. Frank was a clerk when he married Elise Josephine Ratcliffe (1891-1975) in 1914; they divorced in 1938. She married Herbert Scrase. Frank served with the Royal Flying Corp. They lost a son, Flying Officer John Bernard de Macedo (1919-1943), in England during WWII.

Various families occupied this house during the 1940s. John C. and Jean Stillman lived here 1942-45. In 1946-47, Nicholas and Caroline Chomoway lived here. Nicholas was a gas attendant and Caroline was a waitress. Mrs Elliott Robertson, a widow, lived here in 1949.