Heritage Register
Fernwood

1802 Belmont Avenue

Built 1913
Heritage-Registered

For: Beatrix & James Cameron

Builders: Cameron Investment & Securities

ARCHITECTURE:

This is a Classical Revival Foursquare with Arts & Crafts features. The hipped roof has Arts & Crafts exposed rafter tails in open eaves and a hipped-roof dormer on each side. The second-floor façade is flanked by two wrap-around square oriel windows which are supported on many brackets. The inset corner porch framed by classical columns supports a cantilevered balcony; another column appears on the far left front corner. A large plate-glass window with side lights and transoms is situated to the left of the porch. A hip-roofed square bay at the rear of the left side mimics the front window; the bay is supported by double brackets. On the right a stairway window breaks through the beltcourse. The house is clad in bevelled siding with a wide shingled beltcourse.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
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1913: Cameron Investment & Securities advertised this property with one or two lots. James Oscar Cameron (1867-1943) was president of that company as well as Cameron Lumber, and a lawyer and shipbuilder. The house was in the name of his wife Beatrix (née Freeman, 1872-1954), likely for investment security. James and Beatrix lived at 1041 Moss (1320 Purcell Pl, Rockland).

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

1913-15: Dr. Albert Henry Tanner and his wife Georgina were both born in Ontario. Albert was a graduate of the Chicago Dental College and came to Victoria from Rossland, BC. By 1920 their daughter Dora Beatrice Tanner was also a dentist, still living with them and sharing an office with Albert in the Campbell Building at Fort and Douglas Sts.

1917-21: Widower David Parsell (b. Scarborough, ON, 1861-1940), a ship carpenter and joiner with Canadian Pacific Navigation Co, which became the BCCSS of the CPR, and his daughter Edith, a steno at Government Telephones, then BC Tel. David came to BC in 1888 and in 1890 in Victoria married Agnes Staples, who died in 1906. Edith remained single. David’s sister Mary Jane married Matthew James Little in 1903 and lived at 132 South Turner St, James Bay.

1923-38: William Alfred Cameron and Hilma Rosalie (née Nicholls, 1894-1973). William was probably the son of James and Beatrix Cameron. In 1929 he was manager of Cameron Wood & Coal, and by 1937 was also president of Cameron Bros Timber, of which James’s brother Donnell was managing director. In 1951 William was the proprietor of Foot Prince Shoe Store.

1939: Mrs Bereniece Sanderson and Virginia M. Sanderson.
1940: Mrs Hattie B. Watson and Margaret Watson.
1942-48: The Rev. Hugh Alexander E. McLeod and his wife Florence Doreene (née Taggart, b. Ottawa, 1896-1983) moved here from 1900 Belmont Av; he was pastor of First United Church at 1701 Quadra St / 932 Balmoral Rd (North Park). 1949: George and Elizabeth Hancock, retirees; however, in 1951 George was working as a plumber.
1950-58: Commonwealth Construction carpenter Rodger W. and Elizabeth Ferrill; they were followed by railroad yard foreman Charles Ferrill and Yvonne Mary (née Forest) until 1965.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:

• Fernwood History

• Fernwood Heritage Register


• This Old House, Victoria's Heritage Neighbourhoods,
Volume One: Fernwood & Victoria West