Heritage Register
Fernwood

1537 Gladstone Avenue

Built 1887
Heritage-Registered

For: Walter B. & Elsie Revercomb

Designer/Builders: Walter Revercomb

ARCHITECTURE:

This two-storey, hipped-roof house is a vernacular Foursquare. There is a hipped extension on the left front above the double-height porch. The upper porch has recently been enclosed with windows. Its square posts have been retained and connected by stucco panels. The lower porch has triple and double square posts on a double-bevelled balustrade, which is continuous with the balustrade of the front steps. The frieze and the beltcourse form the top casings of the windows, except for one on the left side which has a shingled hood. The basement windows have drip caps. The upper floor is shingled and flared above the beltcourse, which separates it from the double-bevelled siding of the ground floor.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

1912: The original plans described a Craftsman-style house, but were modified to a Foursquare.This is one of a pair of adjacent speculative houses, built by contractor Walter Bradley Revercomb (b. Winnipeg 1866-1955). The combined cost of 1537 and 1533 (not on the City’s Heritage Register) was $7,000. Walter came to Victoria in 1904; his parents, Charles and Nancy Revercomb, and siblings followed in 1906. They lived at 1731 Albert St, Jubilee, and Walter and his father became contractors. In 1910 Walter married Elsie Tredennick (b. Nevada City, CA, 1890-1973), whose parents were miners and came to Victoria in 1905. Elsie designed many of the floor plans for Walter’s houses and he designed the elevations.

In 1914 at the end of Victoria’s building boom, the Revercomb families moved into 1907 and 1911 Belmont Av, Fernwood, both built by Walter. Walter then became manager of Revercomb Motor Co, which sold Maxwell cars. Walter and Elsie took their family to California in 1928, then he built several Spanish Colonial-style houses, including 3115 Quadra St. They lived there for some years, next to Bill & Ellen Drysdale (3107 Quadra St, Hillside-Quadra). Ellen was Elsie’s sister and Bill was another builder. By 1944 Walter was president of Richardson & Revercomb, woodworkers at 620 Queens Av. In 1944-46 he built a number of Art Deco or Moderne houses and apartment blocks, such as 2705 & 2710 Cook St, 1140 Pandora Av and 905 Quadra St, all designed by architect D.C. Frame. In 1951 his company Revercomb & Gooderham were general contractors, manufacturing wood products and distributing Quonset huts, Ray-Tox flexible doors, and roll-away window screens. When Walter retired in 1954, he and Elsie were living at 2720 Cook St, which they designed and built in 1946. They had previously lived in the Revercomb Apartments at 2705 Cook St. Walter was a member of Camosun Lodge AF&AM, Royal Arcanum, and the Victoria Contractors Association.

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

1913-14: John R. Green, Barrister, 208 Belmont House, 805 Government St.
1915: Francis H. “Frank” Kidd, Chartered Accountant, Auditor & Liquidator, 38 Board of Trade Bldg, 521 Bastion St.
1918: Victoria High School teacher James Arthur and Jane “Jennie” Florence Armstrong. James was residing at 908 St Charles St, Rockland, when he died.

1920-26: Retired farmer Robert William Kerr (b. Quebec, 1860-1926). In 1884, Kerr was an early settler in the Regina district, 21 years before Saskatchewan became a province. He died here, but was buried in Regina.
1927: Bookkeeper, broker and painting contractor Sidney Rupert and Jennie Eva Ross.

1928-30: Rupert Leslie Beresford Cox, official administrator, #520 Central Building, 620 View St, and his wife Grace married in Esquimalt in 1926 when Grace was working as a stenographer. Rupert worked until two days before his death as a BC government official administrator.
1931-44: Retired teacher George Allan Lister (b. Perth, ON, 1864-1943) and Annie Elizabeth (née Hunter, b. Toronto, ON, 1878-1971).

1948-50: Bus driver John A. and Kathleen Watson.
1951-2003: Capt. Edward “Ted” Gerrard, BCCSS, (b. Birkenhead, Cheshire, ENG, 1911-2003) and Alice (née Thompson, d.2001) married in Saanich in 1936. They triplexed the house in 1979.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:

• Fernwood History

• Fernwood Heritage Register


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