Heritage Register
Fairfield

534 Trutch Street

Built 1912
Heritage-Registered

For: James & Olive Griffith

ARCHITECTURE:

This is another 1½-storey EVA&C with the typical front gable and dormers on each side, a symmetrical upper floor and asymmetrical main floor on the front façade, and a recessed corner porch balanced by a cantilevered box bay. The gable is finished in half-timbering while the main floor has narrow bevelled siding and the basement is shingled. Five handsomely turned Tuscan columns on a solid balustrade define the porch. Sashes are mostly double-hung, 1-over-1, but some have transoms of leaded art glass and the gable has small trellis pattern sashes low on each side of a grouping of three larger windows. The north side has a large gabled dormer over two angled bays on the main floor. The south side has two box bays under a wide shed dormer that includes a little recessed balcony. A pair of very old Monkey Puzzle trees dominate the front yard.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

The house was built for James Anderson Griffith (1868-1951), he lived here with his wife Olive Josephine (Masterson, 1871-1949) and daughter Lotus Zerelda until 1920. The Griffiths, who were born in Illinois, came to BC in 1896 and Victoria about 10 years later. James was proprietor of Griffith Co Real Estate & Insurance Agents, and later was a hotel proprietor. In 1919, Lotus married James Freeman Cameron, son of lumber merchant James Oscar Cameron and Beatrix Freeman (1320 Purcell Pl, Rockland).

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

Thomas M. McKeown, a CPR assistant purchasing agent, lived here in 1921, followed by Thomas A. Moryson in 1924. He was a sales manager at Revercomb Motors. Isobel Proctor (Inches, 1884-1961), widow of Frederick Proctor (1876-1921), lived here in the mid-1920s, and previously at 504 Linden Av (Fairfield). Frederick, who was born in Kingston, ON, came to Victoria in 1891 and began practising dentistry about 10 years later. Isobel, born in Dundee, Scotland, came to BC in the late 1880s. She was living in Rossland when she married Frederick in 1905.

Various residents occupied this house during the 1930s and 40s. David Moore McCall (1881-1955, 1342 Pandora Av, Fernwood) of McCall Bros, funeral directors, lived here c.1933-39 with his wife Maybelle (Mabel) Mae (Graham). Born in Walton, ON, David came to Victoria from Alberta in 1921, and with his brother James, established McCall Bros funeral home at 1400 Vancouver (ex-952 Johnson, built in 1884 for Charles and Louisa Todd, 1041 St. Charles St, Rockland). The house was demolished c.1960 (see Harris Green History, TOH3), and replaced with a modern facility.

Frederick and Sarah Houlden lived here in 1941. Frederick was assistant superintendent of the Victoria Machinery Depot (VMD). Elizabeth Douthwright lived here in 1943 while her husband Merrie was in active service. Mrs S. Coxworth operated a rooming house here in the mid-1940s. By 1949 retired couple Anna and Edward Hemmingsen were here, and stayed for several years.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:

• Fairfield History

• Fairfield Heritage Register



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