Heritage Register
Fairfield

448 Moss Street

Built 1912
Heritage-Designated 2001

For: W. McGregor

Builder: attributed to W. McGregor

ARCHITECTURE:

This modest Edwardian Arts & Crafts-style, 2-storey house is viewed at the end of Thurlow Rd. It sits high on its rocky site, as its basement is above ground. It is finished in double-bevelled wood siding on the main level and wood shingles on the second storey and basement levels. The front elevation features a shallow octagonal bay window and an inset porch which has been enclosed. The basement level has two wooden garage doors, possibly a 1920s alteration.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

McGregor apparently built the house, as he did the plumbing. He sold it to English immigrant Thomas Cornelius Smart, who paid the 1913 taxes, but rented it out for some time. Thomas married Elizabeth McDonald in 1922, and they then lived in the house many years. Thomas died in 1948 at 83, Elizabeth in 1972 at 90. She owned the house until 1965.

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

Roy and Edith Smardon, who had lived in the mirror-image 446 Moss since 1955, bought it from the family in England. It had been rented for about five years, and was so rundown that the City had declared it unfit for human habitation. The Smardons fixed up and maintained the house, and in 2000 applied for heritage designation.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:

• Fairfield History

• Fairfield Heritage Register



• This Old House, Victoria's Heritage Neighbourhoods,
Volume Four: Fairfield, Gonzales & Jubilee