Heritage Register
Gonzales

131 Robertson Street

Built 1910
Heritage-Designated 1998

For: E.W. Vinall

Architect: Jud Yoho, Craftsman Bungalows
Builder: E.W. Vinall (Vinol)

ARCHITECTURE:

This quirky Arts & Crafts California Bungalow is unusually low, with a central front porch over a retrofitted garage entrance and steep ramp. A full-width loggia is supported by drum columns with heavy square bases and capitals. The side-gabled roof features typical triangular knee braces. The exterior finish is cedar shingles. The design is a modication of Yoho’s #277: “A snappy design, this, with the four large columns of the porch and double pergola suggesting in miniature the imposing colonial or southern mansion. While adding dignity, these columns do not detract from the cozy appearance of the bungalow.... The artistic merit of the pillars is doubled by their graduated base and cap blocks. A dainty little reception hall is found after passing through the door with the living room on one hand and the dining room on the other. The fireplace is in the dining room, necessitating only one chimney for the mantel and the kitchen range as well. The bath room can be reached from any room in the house except the kitchen without passing through another room. ‘Bungalows are built to live in as well as to look at.’ ”*

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

E.W. Vinall lived first at 1844 Hollywood Cr (Gonzales), then at 135 Robertson. The house was advertised for sale in a 1913 edition of the Victoria Daily Colonist. The earliest known occupant of this house was Frederick Charles Cox (1880-1956), of Samm & Cox Monuments. By 1920 he was managing director of Stewart Monumental Works Ltd. Born in England, Frederick came to Victoria in 1901. He married Margaret Abigail Jane Kerr in 1922.

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

VMD shop inspector Gilbert T. Livingstone was the resident in 1917. By 1920, Anna and Gilbert Young were here. Gilbert was employed with Colbert Plumbing & Heating Co Ltd. They lived here until the mid-1920s.
Joseph William (1872-1964) and Nellie Florence (Millerson, 1874-1977) Maynard bought this property in about 1927. Born in London, England, Joseph’s father died when he was two and his mother when he was 15. He became a self-taught chartered accountant, and purportedly passed his examinations with honours after hiring a professional tutor just one month before writing the exams.

Joseph and Nellie met at Sunday school and were married at St. Stephen’s Church in Haverstock, Hampstead, England, in 1896. They came to Canada in 1913 on the Arabic, via Halifax, and settled in Regina, SK for a time where Joseph worked as an accountant with the Wheat Pool and later started his own business. They came to Victoria in the mid-1920s and bought this house soon after their arrival. Joseph retired in 1937.

Nellie remained in this house until she was 97 and then moved to a nursing home.

* Description of Design #277 from Jud Yoho’s Craftsman Bungalows catalogue, Seattle, WA, c1912-1916.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:

• Gonzales History

• Gonzales Heritage Register


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