Heritage Register
Fernwood

1561 Pembroke Street

Built 1913-14
Heritage-Designated 1984

For: William Moore & Ernest Whittington

Builders: Moore & Whittington

ARCHITECTURE:

This is a side-gabled, 1½ storey Craftsman Bungalow. It has the characteristic exposed rafter tails, heavy knee brackets under the gables, and notched bargeboards. On the right side is a shallow cantilevered box bay with stained glass panels and a shed roof beyond three stained glass piano windows. On the left is a small cantilvered box bay beyond a shed-roofed entry porch. On the rear is a wide, low shed-roofed dormer. The substantial shingled, gabled dormer in front contains a sleeping porch. A box bay is located on the right in the full-width, main-floor verandah, which has been glassed in. Three heavy square posts sit on a solid balustrade; all are covered in bevelled siding. The side-facing front steps have a sloped shingled balustrade and shaped wooden balusters on the landing. The main floor is clad in bevelled siding and the basement is shingled. This house was built on a speculative basis by Moore & Whittington (1433 & 1437 Vining St, Fernwood).

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

1913-16: E&N chief dispatcher James Donald Fraser (b. Windsor, ON, 1866-1951) and Minnie Ethel (née Irving, b. Ingersol, ON, 1869-1962) came to BC by 1871 and in 1887, respectively. James was E&N superintendent by 1924, retiring in 1927 after 45 years. He was a past master of Victoria Columbia Lodge No.1 AF&AM.

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

1917-20: Caroline Harrap (née Liddell, b. Hull, ENG, 1843-1924), widow of Victoria district farmer Samuel Twynoury Harrap. Caroline and her daughter-in-law Mary Ellen lived here while her son Robert Samuel was on WWI active service. In the 1920s Robert lived at the Royal Victoria Yacht Club. Caroline came to Canada in 1867 and BC in 1889. [Note: In 1894 her daughter Mary Ann “Annie” Harrap, a dressmaker, married Simon Fraser Tolmie (1867-1937), the son of HBC fur trader, surgeon and BC MLA William Fraser Tolmie and Jane (née Wark/Work). Simon graduated from Ontario Veterinary College in Guelph in 1891 and became Dominion Inspector of Livestock. He was elected MP for Victoria in 1917 and served as Federal Minister of Agriculture. He became leader of the BC Conservatives in 1926, MLA for Saanich in 1928, and BC Premier and Minister of Railways until 1933. Annie died that year in the Tolmie home Cloverdale in Saanich. In 1936 Simon was re-elected as Victoria’s MP, but died the next year.]

1921: Lawrence Victor and Emily Tickner were born in Portsmouth, England, and married in Victoria in 1911. Lawrence was a surveyor with the Pacific Labour Inspection Bureau.
1923-31: Dr. Frank Gage Moody (b. Victoria, 1870-1938) and Mary Wheeler (née Stook) married in 1893. Frank practised dentistry in Victoria for 42 years until the day before he died.
1933-35: George and Gladys E. Glover both worked at the Empress Hotel, George as a fireman, Gladys as a laundress. They lived in 1569 Pembroke St from 1924-32.

1938-41: Retired machinist Thomas Edmond Milliken (b. Glasgow, SCT, 1871-1941) and Annie (née Robinson, b. SCT, 1886-1945) came to Victoria in 1912 and were living in Fernwood when they lost a daughter Annie (1909-1923) to pneumonia. Thomas and Annie moved to 1561 Pembroke with sons Henry, an apprentice at Mechanical Motor Works, and James. Sons Thomas, William, Robert and James all worked at VMD or Yarrows for the war effort during WWII. By 1943, the widowed Annie had moved to 2712 Belmont Av with her daughters Anna, a saleswoman at the Posy Shop, and Isabel, and son Ernest.

1942: Yarrows helper Clarence and Elsie A. Hackwood.
1943-65: Theodore Gurney Unicume (b. Winnipeg, MB, 1909-1984) and Bridgie Noreen (née Bryce). His widowed father Ernest Theodore Unicume (b. Kent, ENG, 1876-1949), a retired merchant, lived with them until his death. Theo was a helper at Sidney Roofing Co; Bridgie was a federal government clerk. When he retired, Theo was working in maintenance at the Dockyard.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:

• Fernwood History

• Fernwood Heritage Register


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