Heritage Register
James Bay

145 Rendall Street

Built 1912
Heritage-Designated 2022

For: William Barber

ARCHITECTURE:

This one-storey Arts & Crafts Bungalow has a bellcast, hipped roof and a bellcast, gabled extension over the front porch. There is an angled bay towards the right rear in front of a small, hip-roofed back porch enclosed with lattice. The asymmetrical front façade has a cantilevered, bracketed angled bay to the left of the porch. Side-facing steps with a solid stepped balustrade lead to the porch, which also has a solid balustrade. Three heavy square posts support the porch roof, in the gable of which is a 12-light window. A wide, two-part frieze becomes the header for windows and the base for the front gable. The porch ceiling and soffits are clad in v-joint T&G, the house in bevelled siding. The shingled basement below the water table sits above a concrete foundation.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

Owner: 1912-15: William Barber who, according to tax rolls, was with Heath & Chaney, realtors in the Sayward Block.

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

Tenants: 1914-15: Alfred T. and Arthur L. Purser, respectively accountant and clerk with Sir John Jackson Ltd, that from 1914-17 built Ogden Point Breakwater & Docks, James Bay.

Owners: 1916-c.20: Ernest Jordan (1876-1963) never lived here. Born in Liverpool, ENG to a seafaring family, he lived on the East Coast, then came to Victoria on a sealing ship via Cape Horn in 1889. By 1895, he was second officer on the SS Danube, running between Victoria and Skagway. He spent time in the Klondike, prospecting for gold and acting as a guide and river pilot until 1907. Ernest served with the 1st Canadian Pioneers in WWI, and was wounded at Ypres. After recovery, he went to India, joined the 7th Inland Water Transport in Mesopotamia, and ran a hospital ship between Baghdad and Amara. After his return to Canada in 1919, he married Laura Cox (1886-1984). Laura, born in New York, was brought to Canada by her father, Capt. William Cox, and mother, Laura Cunard “Nora” (née Sougat) in 1886. Ernest worked for the CPR as captain of the SS Princess Victoria. He retired from seafaring life in 1941.

1924: Edmund (1882-1954) and Martha Dell (1884-1954); Edmund, born in Liverpool, Martha Rowlatt in Manchester, arrived in Vancouver in 1912, and married that year. Edmund was a marine engineer with CPR until he retired in 1945. He was a member of Vimy Lodge, AF&AM No. 97, and the CPR Veterans’ Association.

1929-84: Frederick Butcher (b. ENG 1894-1932) and Anna Mae (née Fletcher, b. Sooke, BC 1894-1984). Frederick came to BC c.1912. He held various jobs from fish mongering to gardening. Mae was an artist.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:

• James Bay History

• James Bay Heritage Register



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