Heritage Register
Fernwood

1560 Gladstone Avenue
(ex-128 North Chatham St)

Built 1905
Heritage-Designated 2010

For: William & Jennie Knight

Builder: Walter Bradley Revercomb

ARCHITECTURE:

This 1½-storey, cross-gabled Edwardian Vernacular Arts & Crafts house has a steeply-pitched, front-gabled roof. It has two staggered gabled roof dormers; the right one has a small shed-roofed dormer in front. All the gables have whalebone bargeboards; the main bargeboards meet at the level of the beltcourse which separates the symmetrical upper storey from the asymmetrical lower. There are pyramids on the ends of the main bargeboards. An oriel window is prominently centred in the front gable with its roofline on the stringcourse. Below the beltcourse is a triple window on the left and an inset porch on the right, which has a square post, a pilaster, and a spindled frieze. The gables and the band below the main water table are shingled. The body and shed-dormer are clad in double-bevelled siding; the foundation is brick. There is a low stone wall capped with a vintage twisted wire fence at the front of the property. The porch was partially filled in to accommodate a second entrance when the house was converted to a duplex in 1949. The concrete steps on either side of a central landing may have been added at that time. The decorative wooden balustrade is a recent addition, as is the stone facing on the wall of the landing.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

1905-08: Bicycle repairer and manufacturer William Henry Knight (b. Cornwall, ENG, c.1884) and Jennie (née Beatty, b. Toronto, ON, c.1883) married in New Westminster in 1904 and lived at 114 North Chatham while this house was built. They left Victoria by 1912.

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

1909-21: Real estate and insurance agent John Frederick Belben (1866-1940) and Elizabeth (née Parsons, 1876-1920) were born in Newfoundland and married in Victoria in 1899. A sailmaker by trade, John worked for Jeune Bros for some years. He was still in Victoria when he died.

1923-30: Engineer and CNR superintendent Thomas Ronald McLeod (b. Nova Scotia, 1858-1949) and Ann Kennedy (née McDonald).
1931-32: Victoria High School physical training instructor William Alan and Annie Roper emigrated to Victoria in 1926.

1933-48: Frederick Phillip Jeune (b. Victoria, 1891-1960) and Berniece Estella (née Wood, b. Tamworth, ON, 1896-1975). [Frederick’s parents Frederick Jeune and Emily Elizabeth Touet married here in 1889. Their families were some of the earliest settlers of the Cordova Bay area.] Fred Jr was a bookkeeper when he married Berniece in 1917. He became a partner in Jeune Bros, the sail, tent and awning business, with his uncle Philip John Jeune (929 Caledonia Av, North Park). Frederick was a Saanich school district trustee in 1957-59 and an Elk Lake Ratepayers’ Association member.

1949-58: Jubilee Taxi chauffeur Alexander John Nightingale (1916-1991) and Sandra duplexed the house and lived in 1560. 1951-54: Retirees Edwin Walter Dover Wilson (b. Cambridge, ENG, 1884-1966) and Phyllis (née Maddison, b. Cambridge, ENG, 1887-1964) lived in 1562 Caledonia..

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:

• Fernwood History

• Fernwood Heritage Register


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