Heritage Register
Fairfield

605 Trutch Street

Built 1912
Heritage-Registered

For: Simon & Frances Bantly

Designer/Builder: Davide Herbert Bale

ARCHITECTURE:

This is another hip-roofed, 2-storey Edwardian Four-Square finished in narrow bevel siding and blocky modillions under the wide eaves. The front has a pair of cantilevered box bays with tripartite double-hung sashes with diamond-pattern leaded multi-panes over single-panes. The side recessed entrance has a partly open porch above. Upper windows are simple 1-over-1 sashes. The front has a prominent hip-roofed dormer with the same simple blocky detail. There is a central corbelled red brick chimney. On the north side there is a box bay which serves as a second side entrance with narrow front-facing steps.

Bale was listed on the plumbing permit as the agent for the owner, so was likely the builder, and he designed most of the houses he built. Bale also did three houses in a row for the Bantly family 1121, 1125 and 1127 Fort St.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

The house was built for Simon Anton Bantly (1874-1923), son of Anna and Marcus Bantly (1127 Fort St, Fairfield) and sister of Rosina Mellor (916 Pandora Av, North Park). Born in California, Simon came to Victoria with his parents in 1883. Like his father, Simon was in the cigar manufacturing business, but he was also a gifted violinist and well known in Victoria’s musical circles. In 1909 he married Frances Anne Lipsky (1882-1959), who was born in Wisconsin to parents of Polish and German descent. Frances remained in the house for about two years after Simon’s death.

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

By 1929 the house had been converted into four suites. Among noteworthy tenants who lived here was Styles Thomas Sehl, son of Elizabeth Kezia Styles and Frank Sehl (see North Park History). He married Dorothy Dorrell in 1921.

Archibald Rodger (1906-1970) and Mary Bulloch (Crombie) Wood lived here in the mid-late 1930s. Archibald was a native of Victoria; he married Mary in 1931. She was born in Prince Albert, SK. He was a salesman and they moved to Vancouver in the early 1940s.

Samuel George (1857-1945) and Bertha Phoebe (Spragge, 1869-1949) Marling lived here for over 10 years from the early 1930s until the mid-1940s. Samuel, a real estate agent, was born in Montreal, QC, and Bertha in Guelph, ON. They came to Victoria about 1906. Bertha left this house after Samuel died in 1945.

The owners since 2003, Jim and Debbie Bailey, removed the asbestos and restored the original siding in 2005.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:

• Fairfield History

• Fairfield Heritage Register



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