Heritage Register
Fernwood

1433 Vining Street (ex-15 Milne St)

Built 1891
Heritage-Registered

For: George Powers

ARCHITECTURE:

This is a cross-gabled, single-storey Folk Victorian home. This house and 1431 Vining St were originally almost identical; while 1431 raised its roof, 1433 added a left wing (taking 10 feet of property from 1437 Vining St), with the result that the bays on the right side and front, and the front porch, of both houses have retained their similarities. In the angle between the front and the left addition is a interesting through-the-roof wall chimney. The house is covered in drop siding.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

Owners: 1891-93: This is the second of the existing houses built by George Powers (1431 Vining St).

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

1894-1903: William Moore (1437 Vining St) owned 1433 & 1431 Vining St.

Tenants: 1898-1902: Moore’s partner Ernest William Whittington (b. Gillingham, Kent, ENG, 1870-1942) and his wife Caroline Elizabeth “Carrie” (née Branthwaite, 1869-1931). Ernest came to Victoria in 1888 with his parents, William and Emily Whittington, who built 1834 Stanley Av/ 1359 Vining St, Fernwood in 1900. In 1893 carpenters Ernest Whittington and William Moore, both in their early 20s, established the firm of Moore & Whittington. As well as building scores of houses and commercial buildings, they manufactured lumber, doors, sashes and millwork as Moore-Whittington Lumber Co. Their first shop was on the present site of the Rialto Hotel south of City Hall. They moved to 865 Yates St c.1900-10 and built a lumber mill on Pleasant St. About 1910 they built a sash and door factory on Bridge St at Hillside Av. Fire destroyed the lumber mill in 1934. In 1964 the firm merged with BC Forest Products, but Moore’s son Walter Stanley remained as company president until the mid-1970s.

Carrie was born in Lamplaugh, Cumberland, England, and came to Canada as Ernest’s bride in 1898. She was a prominent member of Belmont Church and Metropolitan United Church, active in Sunday school and women’s organizations. She and Ernest had one son, Ronald (1435 Richardson St, Fairfield). After Carrie’s death, Ernest married Ethel Louise Elliott, and in 1936 they moved into a new house at 1587 Rockland Av, designed for them by architect K.B. Spurgin. Ernest died there of a heart attack at 72, still secretary-treasurer of Moore-Whittington Lumber Co. He was secretary of the Board of Metropolitan United Church for 37 years, and a member of YMCA, Men’s Canadian Club, and Canadian Manufacturers’ Association.

Owners: 1903-57: David Stuart McGregor (b. Glasgow, SCT, 1870-1953) and Elizabeth (née Pearson, b. Staffordshire, ENG, 1876-1958) married in 1897. David came to Victoria in 1885 with his parents Thomas and Jane McGregor, who were farming in the Sooke-Goldstream District in 1891. Elizabeth Pearson came in 1887, and in 1891 was living in Victoria with her father Thomas Pearson, a building painter. Their daughter Jane Elizabeth, born in 1899, died aged five of meningitis. David was a painter and decorator with Melrose & Co, retiring in 1950. They were still residing in this house when David died. Jane later moved to Saanich.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:

• Fernwood History

• Fernwood Heritage Register


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