Heritage Register
James Bay

121 Menzies Street

Built 1907
Heritage-Designated 2021

For: Bertha Sims

Builder: Moore & Whittington

ARCHITECTURE:

This is a two-storey, hip-roofed Edwardian Foursquare with Arts & Crafts features. A hip-roofed dormer on the front hip of the roof is centrally-located between the hipped roofs of two wrap-around oriel corner bays on the symmetrical upper floor. A shallow balcony below a pair of windows between the bays has sawn balusters between stumpy posts and pilasters. There are heavy, shallow brackets beneath the bays and balcony. To the right of the asymmetrical lower floor is an inset corner porch, now enclosed. There are four Tuscan columns, two beneath the oriel bays and two on the balustrades at the top of the entrance stairs. The now-front-facing stairs have solid stepped balustrades. A hip-roofed angled bay on the left side of the house is on the main floor towards the rear. The finials, chimneys and original windows have all been removed. The cladding is bevelled siding, the basement and stair balustrades are shingled.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

1909-12: Horace Edmondson “Percy” Sims (b. Winnipeg, MB 1876-1929) married Bertha May (née Harrison, b. Huron, ON 1881-1959) in King Co, WA, USA in 1900. They were in WA where Percy, a salmon cannery operator in Port Townsend, registered for the WWI draft in Sept 1918. They returned here the same year and Percy became president and manager of Sooke Harbour Fishing & Packing Co on Vancouver Island. Percy was drowned in a mishap off Sheringham Pt north of Sooke. The family was living in Oak Bay at the time. Percy was a member of AF&AM, Bertha of OES.

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

1913: Realtor Thomas R. Morgan of Allen & Son.
1914: Jennie Jones.

1918-21: Carpenter Hugh Maclure (b. AUS 1889) and Ethel (b. ENG 1888) came here in 1913 and had three lodgers in 1921.

1921-24: Grocery store clerk William W. Harris (b. Nassagaweya, Halton, ON 1877- 1956) was a widower when he married Charlotte (née Millington, b. Press, Derb, ENG 1878-1962) here in 1920. He was a silver miner in ON before coming here in 1913, and a taxi driver when he retired in 1944.

1925-27: Carpenter David Ritchie Sheret (b. Montrose, SCT 1880-1940) married Caroline (née Bethell b. Surrey, ENG 1873-1972) in Battersea, ENG in 1903. He attested for CEF, WWI in 1915.

1928-29: Bank of Montréal messenger Joseph W. Mullin. 1930-36: Mrs. Eleanor Maud(e) Smith (née Beard, b. Brighton, ENG 1884-1974) was married to Frederick George Smith (b. London, ENG 1873-1955), who still lived at their house, 3502 Calumet Av in Saanich. In 1935 son Frederick George “Bill” and Myrtle G. Smith lived with Eleanor.

1939-91: Henry Ives “Dunc” Mackenzie (b. Pictou, NS 1884-1947) married Evelyn Alberts Payne (née Forsythe, b. Vancouver 1903-1991) here in 1931; he was assistant lighthouse keeper at Race Rocks and she was the housekeeper. Dunc was a member of Pro Patria Branch, Royal Canadian Legion. This was still Evelyn’s home at her death.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:

• James Bay History

• James Bay Heritage Register

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