Heritage Register
Fairfield

731 Vancouver Street (ex-49 Vancouver St)
Scholefield House

Built 1892
Heritage-Designated 1977

For: Hedley Chapman

Architect: John Teague
Contractors: Bishop & Sherborne

ARCHITECTURE:

These six houses (725, 731, 737 & 743 Vancouver St, 1012 Richardson, 1011 McClure St) were part of a group of eight designed by John Teague for Hedley Chapman, a British investor. The BC Land and Investment Agency acted as agents for Chapman and arranged for the construction of the houses. P.R. Brown, who worked for the BCLIA, signed the original plumbing permit.

These houses are in Teague’s half-Italianate, half-Queen Anne style that typified much of his residential work in this period. All are 2-storey with jettied and pedimented front gables with shingles in varied patterns, and hipped roofs in the rear. There are brackets under the closed eaves. All have a full-height bay on one side of the front with a pedimented and jettied gable. The gables are shingled in varied patterns and have a segmental window in the peak. Each bay is square on the upper floor, over an angled, cutaway main floor. A pent roof with a frieze decorated with rectangular panels separates the two levels of the bay; a strip with larger rectangular panels is under the ground floor window. Two houses on corner lots have 2-storey square side bays on the same side as the front one, with features similar to it. A pent roof on the side joins those on the two bays. The other four houses have a single-storey square side bay in place of the 2-storey one. They are clad in drop siding.

All houses have a 1-storey entry porch on the opposite corner to the front bay. It has a pedimented, shingled gable supported by brackets, with spindled supports, balustrade, and decorative work under the roof. Most of the windows are 2-over-1 double-hung sashes with horns. Each house has a pair of sunburst brackets parallel to the front of the house in the upper corners of the cutaway window, and another pair perpendicular to the housefront in the corners under the eaves of the front gable; the houses differ in the details of these ornaments. Some of the houses have ornamental features on their bargeboards and entry porches.

Scholefield House has pilasters framing its entrance door, and bargeboard roundels. It has a right-front bay and a single-storey side bay. The cutaway window sunburst brackets are the same size as on the other houses, but the pent roof ones are longer; they have five pointed beams.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

Helen Ann Coleman Scholefield (Gilbert), widow of Rev. Stuart Clement Scholefield (1842-1894) lived here with her children until 1896, when they moved to Dallas Rd. Helen and Stuart were married in England in 1865 and had 12 children before coming to Canada in 1887. Stuart had been the Rector of St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Esquimalt. He died unexpectedly on a trip to Lytton, BC.

Their son Ethelbert Olaf Stuart Scholefield (1875-1919) married Lillie May Corbould in New Westminster in 1907. He became Provincial Librarian in 1898 and oversaw construction of a new library in 1912. He later became Provincial Archivist. One of BC’s earliest historians, Ethelbert co-authored British Columbia from the Earliest Times to the Present with Frederic William Howay in 1913. He was president of the BC Library Association, and a member of the Royal Colonial Institute, BC Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Help Society, and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

The next resident was Mary McNaughton-Jones, widow of Dr. William McNaughton-Jones (c.1832-1896), who was living here by 1900 and bought the house in 1907, although living elsewhere by then. Born in Cork, Ireland, William was a physician and health officer.

The next known residents were James H. Greer, shipping and commission agent, and Edward Greer, of the Newton-Greer Paint Co, who lived here in 1908. By 1909, Elizabeth Harriet Jones (1861-1922), a nurse, and her sister Sarah Hannah Jones (c.1878-1948), were living here and ran a nursing home here until Elizabeth died. Elizabeth was born in Manchester, England, where she attained her nursing education. She came to Victoria in 1892 and had a private nursing home on Blanshard St. She was a charter member and president of the Graduated Nurses’ Association.

William Lorimer lived here in 1926, followed by Miss Elizabeth Magilton in 1929. She was a sales clerk at the HBC.

Violet Emeline McPhee (Coatsworth, 1873-1961), widow of Donald Bertram McPhee (1866-1929) lived here in the early 1930s. Donald had been a lighthouse keeper at Lennard Island, near Tofino, BC, when he died. Violet was born in New Windsor, Berkshire, England, and came to Canada in 1896. She and Donald came to BC in the late 1890s. Son Percy McPhee was a lighthouse keeper at Albert Head Lighthouse in Metchosin.
The Cleaver family was in the house by 1939. Ann Eliza Cleaver (Draper, 1861-1950), widow of Charles William Cleaver, lived here with her daughter Marion Veronica (1886-1980) until c.1941. Ann was born in Belton, Leicestershire, England, but she and Charles lived in Croydon, Surrey, where their children were born. Anne and Marion came to Canada in 1918 and lived in North Battleford, SK, before coming to Victoria in 1920. The Cleaver’s son Arthur Augusta (1885-1963) and his wife Winifred Mary (Grisold, 1887-1972) bought this house soon after moving to Victoria from Fairholme, SK, in 1941 and lived here until c.1960. Arthur came to Canada before his mother and sister in c.1904. He was a shipwright.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:

• Statement of Significance (Canadian Register of Historic Places)

• GIS Map of Victoria's Heritage Register Properties

• Fairfield History

• Fairfield Heritage Register



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