Heritage Register
Fernwood

1437 Vining Street (ex-17 Milne St)

Built 1891
Heritage-Designated 1994

For: Charles & Ann Pannell

Builder: Charles Pannell & sons Charles & Frank

ARCHITECTURE:

This is a Folk Victorian L-shaped cottage with front and side gables. There is a single window in the front gable above a hip-roofed angled and panelled bay. There are dentils and shaped shingles above the window casings in the bay. The central window has Queen Anne glass in the upper sash. All the window casings on the façade have decorative mouldings. To the right is a hipped roof over the porch supported by two chamfered square posts and turned spindles in the balustrade. At the rear is a shed-roofed attachment. There is shingling above the upper window in the front gable. The body of the house has drop siding, and the foundation is stone.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

1891-93: Charles Pannell (b. ENG, 1847-1921) and Ann “Annie” (née Dench, b. Box Hill, Surrey, ENG, 1844-1916) came to Barrie, ON, in 1868, and BC c.1890. The 1891 census listed Charles and their eldest son, George Charles William, as carpenters, and son Edwin “Frank” as a building painter for Eli Harrison, “importer of wall paper, paints, oils, etc, cor. Pandora and Douglas.” The family moved up island to a farm at Cowichan Station c.1894, where Ann and Charles remained until their deaths. Son George was farming with them when he died of consumption. Son Owen Percy Pannell also lived at Cowichan Station, and was a teamster, engaged in hauling and contracting. His brother Edward Ernest worked as a gardener in Victoria in the last years of his life and lodged with Mrs. R.E. Rennie at 506 Government St, James Bay. Frank retired as a painter in 1935.

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

Owner: 1894-1903: John Nicholson (b. Liverpool, ENG, 1837-1912) rented the house out. He came to Canada c.1885 and appeared in Victoria directories in 1889, listed as a bachelor and a gentleman. He roomed in various places, including the Cherry Bank and Roccabella, where he was a resident at the time of his death. From 1894 he was a real estate agent (he was possibly forced to work after the 1893 depression) and from 1901 a land agent. His office was #6 in the Five Sisters’ Block at Government and Fort Sts.

Because #17 doesn’t appear in street listings until 1900, we can’t be certain who lived in the house.
Tenants: 1900-03: William Moore (b. Barrie, ON, 1871-1950) and Mary Alena “Lena” (née Knott, b. Orono, ON, 1877-1970) were married in 1897 in the home of Lena’s older sister Linda Charlton, 1434 Vining St. Their guests were a “who’s who” of many prominent builder families in Victoria: Knott, Jones, Whittington, Parfitt, Matthew and Leigh. William Moore came to Victoria in the 1891 building boom. In 1893, during the depression that followed, he formed a partnership with Ernest Whittington (1433 Vining St). They were both active members of Metropolitan Methodist, then United Church. William was a YMCA director and a member of the Rotary Club, working with boys in athletics and hobbies. William died two years after retiring. Lena was a resident of Mount St Mary private hospital (999 Burdett Av, Fairfield) when she died.

Owners: 1904-19: Arthur Charles Charlton (b. Islington, North London, ENG, 1867-1959) and Linda Ann Rae (née Knott b. Cornwall, ENG, 1866-1946) moved across the street into this house, after Linda’s sister Lena Moore left (see above). Linda followed her older brothers Horace (621 Trutch St, Fairfield) and Herbert (1466 Gladstone Av & 2008 Chambers St, Fernwood, 616 Trutch St, Fairfield) to Victoria in 1888. She was a widow when she married Arthur in Metropolitan Methodist (later United) Church in 1893. Linda was known as “Mother Charlton” in her later life.

Arthur’s father was a nurseryman and Arthur apprenticed as a gardener at age 12 on the Duke of Wellington’s estates at Feltham, Middlesex. After emigrating to BC in 1887 he worked as a gardener for the Dunsmuirs at Craigdarroch Castle (1050 Joan Cr, Rockland). By 1893 he was a postman, when Victoria had just 11 mail carriers. Before he retired in 1933 Arthur was overseer of the Post Office, and was awarded a British Empire Service Medal for long service. He began the first Methodist Sunday School in the old Willows skating rink. He was a temperance man, and liked to walk 16 or 17 miles on a Sunday. The Charltons moved to 157 Wellington St before 1920. Arthur was residing in an apartment at 916 Johnson St, the former Metropolitan Church parsonage, when he died.

1920-49: George David McAdams (1880-1946) and Ada Elizabeth (née Branson, 1878-1967) came to Canada from England c.1906 and lived some time in Turtleford, SK. They came to BC c.1918. George was proprietor of Farmers Produce Store at 633 Johnson St until 1924 when he became a clerk at David Spencer’s. Their son George E. became a helper at the Hudson’s Bay Co (HBC), then a window dresser and by 1935 was the assistant display manager. In 1925, George and Ada’s daughter Irene started work at HBC as a cashier. She lived at home until 1938 when she moved to Oak Bay Av with her sister Winifred M, a steno at Begg Motors. In 1937 their brother David Richard was a stockman at Begg Motors. He later went into real estate. George Sr. resided in Mount St Mary at his death.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:

• Fernwood History

• Fernwood Heritage Register


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