Heritage Register
James Bay

65 Government Street
(ex-603 Niagara St, corner Carr St)

Built 1902, moved c.1911
Heritage-Designated 1984

For: Mabel & William Champion

ARCHITECTURE:

This late Victorian Queen Anne cottage has a series of gable, hip and shed roofs, and a small gable-on-hip on the highest hip. A pediment-gabled wing on the right front has an angled bay with sunburst corner brackets above the side windows. To the left is a recessed porch with one turned post and two pilasters, all with brackets. There is leaded art glass in the entrance transom window and the angled bay transom. The solid stair balustrade has been replaced with square balusters. The right side of the house has a box bay under a pedimented gable with a shed-roofed sunroom towards the rear. At the back is a full-width, shed-roofed extension. The main floor is clad in drop siding, the foundation is shingled, and there are decorative shingles in the gables. There are two chimneys, the front one retains its corbelling. Built facing Niagara St, this house was moved around the corner and one lot south on Government St c.1911.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

1902-12: William Champion (b. ON c.1879-1952) and Mabel (née Matheson, b. Ladner, BC c.1882-1946). William came to Victoria in 1896, Mabel in 1897. They married in 1901. William ran a furniture store on Fort St for many years.

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

1916: owner M.S. Pringle.

1913-c.20: William Thomas and Belle McDonald later moved to 554 Niagara St, James Bay.

c.1922-26: Robert and Florence Elworthy were born in Victoria, Robert in 1884, Florence Dickinson in 1892, and married in 1914. During the early 1920s, Robert ran R.B. Elworthy, a drygoods store. He and Florence likely divorced during the 1920s; by 1925 he was a salesman for Prudential Insurance and lived on Lulu Island, BC. He remained with Prudential until his death in 1950. Florence was living in Vancouver when she died in 1978.

1927-41: Robert H. and Elizabeth Faulkner were born in Cheshire, ENG. Robert came to Victoria in 1902, Elizabeth Morris in 1911. They married in 1915. Robert was a ships steward for 50 years, retiring in 1939. Elizabeth died in 1955 at 73 and Robert in 1957 at 82.

1941-50: Alice Hamilton, wife of Richard “Eric” Hamilton (1017 Catherine St, Vic West), and her four children lived here, then moved to 1271 Faithful St, Fairfield. Born in Morris, MB, Alice McCreath came here in 1907 and married Eric in 1917. They built 355 Gorge Rd in Saanich in 1923 and Eric ran the Gorge Park Boat House. Medical problems aggravated by the 1929 stock market crash drove Eric to leave his family. He moved to Regina then Florida in 1940, and died in Indiana in 1976 at 81. Alice worked as a salesclerk at Spencer’s to support her family until retiring in the mid-1950s. She died in 1982 at 94.

1951-53: Building centre wharfinger John George Johnstone (b. Aberdeen, SCT 1886-1983) and Edith Violet Pearl (née Larson, b. Cherry Point, BC 1891-1972) were married in Victoria in 1924 by the Rev. Dr. John Campbell at Breadalbane (1177-1185 Fort St, Rockland).

1954-55: Lunch Box restaurant proprietor Arthur Walter Wootton (b. Loughborough, Leics, ENG 1894-1982) and Maria Ramones (b. Mexico 1884-1957).

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:

• James Bay History

• James Bay Heritage Register



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