Heritage Register
James Bay

221 Montreal Street

Built 1912
Heritage-Designated 1999

For: Andrew Smith

Builder: Andrew Smith

ARCHITECTURE:

This modest Edwardian Vernacular Arts & Crafts front-gabled house has denticulated bargeboards. The front gable, which was originally shingled, has three windows above the string course. There is a shallow, shed-roofed dormer on the left side of the roof, and a large gabled dormer on the right above a shallow, cantilevered box bay on the main floor. The stairs leading to the enclosed, inset corner front porch originally had solid shingled, sloped balustrades (see c.1945 photo). The original wooden windows are all vertical-multi-lights-over-one. The exterior has been covered in asbestos siding over the original shingles and double-bevelled siding. The house retains its brick chimney.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

Andrew Smith, a carpenter, lived at 217 Montreal and rented this house out. Born in 1871 in Oxford County, ON, he moved here c.1910. He owned the property until at least 1916 and died in 1920 at 49. One of the earliest residents of the house was widow Emily (Weeks) Lines in 1913. She married James Thomas Newell later that year, and they left Victoria by 1917. From 1918-21, Arthur Bradshaw, a wharfinger with R.P. Rithet, lived here.

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

From the mid 1920s to 1936, Henry and Isabella Ellis, Andrew Smith’s sister, were residents. Henry came to Victoria from England in 1907, and married Isabella in 1920. He was a shipper with HBC in the late 1920s, and by the 1940s, was a farmer. He served with the 2nd Canadian Rifles during WWI, and was a member of the Canadian Legion, Pro Patria Branch. Henry died in 1949 at 74 and Isabella in 1957 at 81.

From 1937-39, the residents were Margaret and Clifford Eastwood, a longshoreman. Clifford married Margaret McCleave in Vancouver in 1929. From 1941-45, widow Nora Griffiths lived here.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:

• James Bay History

• James Bay Heritage Register

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