Heritage Register
Fernwood

1900 Belmont Avenue
Bonita

Built 1912
Heritage-Registered

For: William & Victoria Gleason

Designer/Builder: William Angus Gleason

ARCHITECTURE:

Bonita is an unusual, steep, side-gabled, 1½ storey Craftsman Arts & Crafts style house. It has a full-height gabled right rear extension. A small shed-roofed dormer is sandwiched between two gabled dormers in the front. The dormer on the right extends to the front on the roof, the one on the left is recessed. There are dentils on the bargeboards and string courses in all the gables. There is a shallow angled bay to the right of the front verandah. The random-coursed stonework chimneys, battered verandah piers, balustrade, steps, and foundation are typical of Craftsman style. The verandah ends in a whimsical, gazebo-like, stone extension. It has an Oriental appearance with its bellcast gabled roof; the roof is repeated at the right end of the verandah. The upper gables are roughcast-stuccoed and half-timbered, the lower gables are shingled, and double-bevelled siding covers the body.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
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1912-15: William Angus Gleason (b. NB 1870-1944) and Victoria A. (née McLennan, b. ON 1870). They married in Nanaimo in 1895 and by 1898 were living in Victoria. William was a carpenter and building contractor: his death certificate gives his profession as “Retired Archetect and Builder (sic).” Three of his known contracts were the James & James-designed house for Mrs. J.W. Lysle, Stonehenge Park at 1179 Munro St in Esquimalt, the W. Ridgeway Wilson-designed Patly for James Mitchell at 1617 Rockland Av, and the Samuel Maclure-designed house for James Forman at 1000 Terrace Av (both in Rockland).

William was a city alderman in 1907-08 and 1911-13. In 1914 he was unsuccessful in a bid to be Mayor of Victoria. At the outbreak of WWI, he went to Britain to join the war effort. After WWI he worked in the USA for five years for the H.K. Ferguson firm. In 1927 a Colonist reporter interviewed William when he came through Victoria on his way to Japan, where he was to be superintendent of construction of a Ford Motor plant near Yokohama. The Gleasons later moved back to Victoria and William died at the family residence, 118 Beechwood. A prominent Mason, William Gleason was buried in Ross Bay Cemetery with his parents Margaret and Michael Gleason.

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

1920-38: Clothier Frank Calvert (b. Orchardville, ON, 1868-1941) and Catherine Ellen (née Hopper, b. Paisley, ON, 1872-1940). The Calverts came to Victoria about 1911 and lived at 1508 Gladstone Av, Fernwood, in 1912. They were both active with First United Church and Frank was a Mason. Catherine died in Vancouver, Frank in Victoria. Son Dr. John D. Calvert served in the Canadian Dental Corps during WWII.

1939-41: 1The Rev. Hugh Alexander McLeod, pastor of First United Church, and his wife Florence Doreene; by 1942 they were living in 1802 Belmont Av.

1943-47: John and Jean Maxwell; John was a driller.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:

• Fernwood History

• Fernwood Heritage Register

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