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Heritage Register
Gonzales

630 Foul Bay Road

Built 1916
Heritage-Registered

For: William & Edith Luney

Architect: Charles Elwood Watkins
Builders: Luney Brothers


630 Foul Bay

ARCHITECTURE:

C. Elwood Watkins designed homes for brothers William and Walter Luney, owners of Luney Bros. Ltd., contractors and builders, which were built during the slow construction days of WWI. In 1913 the firm had built the Victoria Normal School, also designed by Watkins, and had prospered in the pre-war boom. (Walter’s residence is at 1566 Hampshire in Oak Bay.)

630 Foul Bay Road is built in the British Arts & Crafts style, with an asymmetrical plan built around a hipped-roof core, and featuring extensive stonework, including foundation, main floor, handsome chimneys and a matching garden wall. The front façade has two extensions: on the right, an octagonal bay has a shallow box bay above it; on the left, a wrap-around verandah has a balcony projecting over it. There are also bays on the sides: on the right, a 2½ -storey bay has a box bay above a curved bay, while on the left a large gabled extension has a room above (originally open) over the verandah. Stucco covers the upper walls, with half-timbering in the gables, which climax in finials. Flattened arches top the front entry and the upper front balcony, and brackets and dentils help tie the diverse elements together. The original design called for a billiard room in the basement, a finished attic, and sleeping porches. The only jarring touches are a late verandah added for the top-storey dormer, and an iron fire-escape.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

Born in Toronto, William Luney came to Victoria in 1885 and established Luney Bros Ltd in 1906 with his brother Walter. Some of the company’s contracts included the CPR Terminal Building (468 Belleville St, James Bay), and the Crystal Garden (713 Douglas St, Downtown). In 1912, William married Edith Kohse (1893-1971), a native of Germany who arrived in Victoria in 1906. They had five sons, Alfred, Harry, Arthur, Elwood and William. Edith was an active member of the Canadian Club, the Castle Society and the Royal Jubilee Hospital Auxiliary. The Luney family lived here until 1945.

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

Retired couple Joseph and Lucia Binette bought the house in 1946. In 1947 owner Mrs Belle Dixon converted the 16-room house into six suites, known as the Town & Country Lodge Apartments. It later became the Shelmarie, a retirement nursing home.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:

• Gonzales History

• Gonzales Heritage Register


• This Old House, Victoria's Heritage Neighbourhoods,
Volume Four: Fairfield, Gonzales & Jubilee


 © VICTORIA HERITAGE FOUNDATION (VHF) 2013 Phone 250-383-4546  Email:vhf@victoriaheritagefoundation.ca
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