Heritage Register
Fernwood

1116 Caledonia Avenue (ex-10 Caledonia Av)

Built 1890-91
Heritage-Designated 2012

For: St. Barnabas' Church Institute, Anglican Synod of BC, in the name of Rt. Bev. Bishop Hills, Bishop of Columbia

Architect: John Teague

ARCHITECTURE:

This Queen Anne house shares many similarities to 1112 Caledonia Av. They were designed as a pair by John Teague and built for the same client. See 1112 for a description. The notable differences on 1116 are the missing decorative elements on the front porch and the bay. The bevelled siding on the right side probably replaces the asphalt siding which covered the house for decades. The original front door and side lights have been removed to accommodate two doors. Smaller brackets on the left-side bay are later replacements.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
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1116 Caledonia was used as St. Barnabas’ Church Institute hall for some years. They also rented the house out.

Tenants: 1894: John E. Raynes, bookseller and bookkeeper, 104 Fort St, who came to Canada in 1890; and Edmund James and Elizabeth Eyres, who came to Canada in 1892. Edmund, a photographer, had the Imperial Studio at 76 Yates St; in 1901 he was earning $1200 a year as a photographer.

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

1895: Hudson’s Bay Co (HBC) cashier and accountant John Francis “Frank” Henry and Alice Sophia Coles came to Canada and Victoria in 1889. Frank later worked for E.A. Morris, tobacconist.

1898-1908: Widower James McKenzie Wilson (b. SCT 1844-1908) and his offspring. James, his wife Annie Hay (b. Strathpeffer, SCT, 1853-1896) and daughter Jessie emigrated from Scotland to Ontario in 1874, and by 1886 to Vancouver Island. James worked on the construction of the CPR in Ontario, then on the E&N in 1885-86, and later on the V&S railway on the Saanich Peninsula. James worked for the City from 1894-98 as street inspector, then spent a year on railway construction in the Kootenays, and from June 1899 to late 1907 as City sanitary inspector. He resigned after a difference of opinion with City Council. James’s offspring lived with him: Jessie as the eldest daughter looked after the household, remained single and later worked as a housemaid; warehouseman Robert Culbert; BCER employee James McLean Wilson was a bridge builder when he signed up for WWI in December 1915; Mary Jane; dressmaker Agnes Elizabeth; Allen Campbell; Grace; Colin McKenzie was a plumber’s apprentice in 1901; John Conway, a teamster, drowned at Eburne, BC, in 1910 and his body was not found for six months; Annie Hay; veterinary assistant George Bruce signed his attestation paper for WWI in 1917; teamster Norman Edward also signed up in 1917.

In 1905 their father James married Mary “Polly” Blomestock (b. London, ENG, c.1870).

1909-17: After James died, Polly Wilson was the resident, and James’s offspring were all gone. She kept lodgers.
1918: William Schofield, on WWI active service. A carpenter from Ucluelet, Vancouver Island, he signed up in November 1915. His wife, Minnie, would have been living in this house.

1920: Electrician Manley John Romans was a district foreman for BC Electric when he retired in 1945. He came to Canada in 1912 and remained single. Living with him was his widowed mother, Sarah Elizabeth. Manley and Sarah moved to Vancouver in 1923 and lived together until her death.
1929: Amy Daly (née Little, b. San Juan Island, WA, 187(b. NB 1866-1923). They married in Victoria in 1891. James had been a lineman and then a City wiring inspector.

1934: Seaman plumber Horace and Alice A. Jobson, and his mother, Emma Jobson; from 1902-24 they lived at 215 Wilson St, Vic West. 1935-36: City employee Charles and Mabel Florence Watson married in Victoria in 1920. Charles retired after 31 years with the City, then became a presser at New Method Laundry.

1937-38: Ernest H. and Jean M. Harris; Ernest was the proprietor of Harris’ Bicycle Store at 136 Government St in James Bay, then the manager of E.H. Harris & Co, 1249 Camrose Cr.

1939-43: Anna Shotton (née Milburn, b. Berea, Ohio, 1887-1955), widow of longshoreman Benjamin Shotton (b. Stanton-upon-Hinesheath, Shropshire, ENG, 1872-1928). They married in Nelson, BC, in 1912 and came to Victoria in 1915. Living with her was their son, VMD labourer Benjamin Shotton. The family, including eight children, lived in James Bay when Benjamin Sr died after an accident at work. He was a member of Victoria Riggers’ & Stevedores’ Association, and as a body, the brotherhood attended his funeral.

1944-48: The Rev. Eric George Foster (b. ENG 1904-1981) and Zoe Mary Kathleen (née Blandy, b. Ipswich, Suffolk, ENG, 1904-1987). Although his wife listed him as a rector on his death certificate, while living in 1116, Eric was a machinist at Yarrows; later he was a packer at the Wedgewood Shop.

1949-50: Marie Yvonne Rainaldi (née Le Normand, b. France 1875-1955), the wife of stonecutter and contractor Edward Rainaldi (b. Italy 1884-1957). They came to Canada in 1905 and 1903, respectively, and married in Victoria in 1910.

1951: BC Forest Products labourer and millwright Garfield Joseph Clayton and Martha Wells. When he died in Port Alberni, Garfield was working for McMillan Bloedel.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:

• Fernwood History

• Fernwood Heritage Register

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