Heritage Register
James Bay

131-33 South Turner Street
(ex-15 South Turner St)

Built 1903
Heritage-Designated 1979

For: Cowper & Wilemetta Newbury

ARCHITECTURE:

This two-storey, side-gabled Queen Anne house has a hip-roofed extension at the rear. There is a shallow, one-storey, angled, cantilevered box bay on the left side and a deeper hip-roofed, one-storey box bay on the right. On the right front façade is a projecting full-height, gabled wing; an inset two-storey, flat-topped, hip-roofed extension sits in the angle formed by the side and front gables. A two-storey, hip-roofed, angled bay is attached to the front of the right wing. A hip-roofed porch wraps around the flat-roofed extension, with a small pedimented gable on the porch roof to the right. Slender chamfered posts and pilasters support the porch roof and its spindled frieze; the balusters are square and widely spaced. There are modillions in the eaves, finials on all the gables, capitals on the corner boards on both floors, and leaded art glass panels in the transoms. The gables have fishscale shingles, the body is clad in drop siding, and the panels in the bays have V-joint T&G. The foundation is brick and covered in lattice below the porch. There are two corbelled brick chimneys. The house cost $2,000 when built, and was duplexed in 1940.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

1903-12: Post Office clerk Cowper William Newbury (b. Victoria 1866-1930) and Willemetta Jane Morley (b. Victoria 1875-1972) married in 1901. Cowper’s parents, William and Jane Newbury, came to Victoria in 1863. William was a saddler and harness maker. Willemetta’s grandparents came to Victoria on the third voyage of the Norman Morison in 1853. This property adjoined Cowper’s brother John’s estate at 140 Government St. In 1912 the Newburys retired to 2895 Colquitz Av (Saanich Heritage-Designated).

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

1925-28: Rev. Wyndham Madden (c.1849-1926) and Evelyn (née Bather c.1865-1936) came from England in 1911.

1913-14: Thomas Kelway, a cashier at the New England Hotel. 1921-24: Dr. John Milton Shaw (c.1859-1926) and family. They came to BC from Ontario in 1915, and left after John’s death.

1935-38: Charles Edward Ball (b. Somerset, ENG 1881-1956) and Ethel Gertrude (née Cross, b. Cobalt, NSW, AUS 1896-1970) married in Vancouver in 1915 and lived at 565 Michigan St, James Bay in 1931-34. A labourer, then a gardener, Charles was a resident of Victoria from 1911, Ethel from 1910. Charles was a veteran of WWI and a member of the Pro Patria Branch, Canadian Legion.

Duplex: 1941-43: Thomas “Eric” Moir (b. Victoria c.1911) and Dorothy “Alice” (née McKillop, b. Amherst, NS c.1913-1999) married in Victoria in 1934. Thomas was a driver for Spencer’s, then worked at VMD.
1945-46: Irma and Stanley Sunderland (b. Saskatchewan c.1917), who served in the army in WWII.
1945-52: Wilfrid John Claude Orchard (b. Victoria 1909-1977) and Dorothy May (née Oliver, b. Commerce, AB 1914-1985) married in Cranbrook in 1932. Wilfrid took teacher training at Victoria Normal School. He taught in Kimberley, BC, then returned here to South Park Elementary in 1944. By 1951, he was principal at Burnside Elementary, then South Park from 1955, and Tolmie Elementary from 1971.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:

• James Bay History

• James Bay Heritage Register



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