Heritage Register
James Bay

303 Government Street (ex-6 Carr St)
Cadzow Cottage

Built 1890
Heritage-Designated 1977

For: George & Helen Bishop

Builder: George Bishop

ARCHITECTURE:

Cadzow Cottage is a one-storey, hip-roofed Queen Anne cottage with gabled wings on the front and the right side; both gables have windows below shallow pent roofs. There is an eyebrow dormer to the left of the front gable. Sandwich brackets in the eaves surround the house. The front wing has a hip-roofed, angled bay with a bracketed pent roof above the windows; the side wing has an inset box bay with pent roof below the projecting gable. The left side of the house has one window below a bracketed pent roof, and a shed-roofed porch towards its rear. There are sunburst brackets on the side wing; to the right of the bay is a similar bracket above the door of the now-enclosed back porch. To the left of the front wing is a hip-roofed verandah with brackets, turned posts and pilasters, and sawn balusters.

The central front steps lead to panelled double doors. The upper sashes on front and right side all have stained and leaded Queen Anne glass. The house is clad in drop siding; the foundation is brick, as are the two corbelled chimneys. Cadzow Cottage was built for $2,000.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

George and Helen Bishop owned the house, named for Cadzow Castle in South Lanarkshire, SCT, until 1896, although they lived in it until 1900. George came to Canada from SCT in 1883, and lived in Winnipeg before making his way to Victoria in 1884 via Union Pacific Railway to San Francisco, then steamer to this city. In 1887, he married Helen Johnston, just arrived from Edinburgh. From 1889-99 he partnered in a carpentry business with Frederick Sherborne (255 Government St), as Bishop & Sherborne, 21 Government St at Courtney. In 1889 they built two projects designed by architect S.C. Burris, Grimm’s Carriage Factory, 731-33 Johnson St, and the Weiler Building addition, 636 Broughton St, both downtown, as well as the Quarantine Station at Albert Head in Metchosin. In 1892 they built eight houses in Fairfield designed by John Teague, including 725, 731, 737 & 743 Vancouver St, and 1012 Richardson St. In 1894 they built Schuhuum at 1322 Rockland Av, designed by Wm Ridgway Wilson. One of their biggest contracts was the carpentry work at BC’s Parliament Buildings (501 Belleville St, James Bay). In 1896 during the Klondike gold rush, George worked in Alaska, supervising carpentry work on the steamer Yukoner for the CPR, then returned to Victoria. George moved to Lake Cowichan, BC, in 1912, and died in 1920 at 60. Helen died in Victoria in 1949 at 88.

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

1897-1901: Laura S.J. and Capt. Daniel Campbell paid the taxes, and lived here in 1901-02. Daniel and Laura were born and married in the Maritimes. They came to Victoria with their children in the mid-1880s. Daniel, a master mariner, retired in the 1890s. He died in Vancouver in 1903 at 76. Laura died in 1908 at 68.

1911-30: Sarah (née Nicoll, b. Edinburgh c.1846-1930) Jensen came to Victoria with her husband Victor Jensen (b. Denmark c.1843-1896) in 1882. Victor, the saloon and hotelkeeper of the Boomerang Hotel, died of liver failure aged 53. Sarah lived in this house until her death.

1931-48: David Cowan (b. ON c.1866-1948) and Aleda (née Seater, b. Orkney Islands, SCT c.1882-1960) came to BC in 1891 and 1911, respectively. They met in Revelstoke and married in 1914. David was a telephone lineman for 37 years. They moved to Victoria after he retired in 1929. Aleda may have been related to Robert Sinclair Rendall of 403 Simcoe St, James Bay.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:

• James Bay History

• James Bay Heritage Register



• This Old House, Victoria's Heritage Neighbourhoods,
Volume Two: James Bay