Heritage Register
James Bay

231 St Andrews Street
Tren-De Hayes (1917)

Built 1913
Heritage-Designated 1989

For: Edith Carr

Designer/Builder: Alexander McCrimmon

ARCHITECTURE:

This two-storey, hip-roofed Edwardian Foursquare house has two shallow, cantilevered box bays on the right side below a common pent roof, and a smaller pent roof towards the rear. Another shallow, pent-roofed box bay sits on the front to the right of the deeply recessed corner front porch, with its pair of heavy, chamfered posts on a solid balustrade. The front-facing stairs turn to access a verandah on its left side. The wide verandah, now with narrow square balusters between square posts, forms the roof of a garage with a bracketed side entry. The upper storey of the house above a high belt course has pairs of one-over-one double-hung sashes, and on the left side, a leaded art glass stairwell window. The contrasting claddings of a shingled main floor, and stucco and half-timbered upper floor, are Arts & Crafts features. The house was designed and built by Alexander McCrimmon for $5,000, who in 1911 had built another Edwardian Foursquare at 161 South Turner St, James Bay.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

The Carr family came to Victoria in 1863 and this house is built on part of the original estate, near the family home at 207 Government St, sister Emily’s House of All Sorts at 642-646 Simcoe St, and sister Alice’s house and schoolroom at 218-220 St. Andrews St. Edith Carr and sister Lizzie lived here until 1914, and planted a garden next door on Lizzie’s lot. They moved into Alice’s house for a year, then back to 207 Government St and became landladies to make ends meet. Edith “Dede” (b. Alvisto, CA 1856-1919) was the eldest child of Richard and Emily (née Saunders) Carr. She was actively involved with the Protestant Orphanage Home Committee, Friendly Help Society, and related charitable organizations. Elizabeth “Lizzie” (b. Victoria 1867-1936) was a masseuse. She was a person of selfless acts, “visiting the sick, bringing comfort to the blind and assisting the helpless and the needy,” according to her obituary in VDT.

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

1917: inland revenue collector Richard Jones (1851-1936) and Helen Grahame (née Mouat 1860-1932), whose parents built one of the earliest homes in James Bay.

1918-24: Henry Angus Davie (1868-1923) and wife Ethel (1877-1924), born in Sunderland, ENG, came to Canada in 1910 and Victoria c.1913. Henry founded the Davie automobile dealership.

1927-84: William Ewart Gladstone McLagan (b. Perthshire, SCT 1885-1944) and Ethel (née Wilby, b. Victoria 1895-1984) purchased 231 after living at 134 St. Andrews St for five years. William came to Victoria in 1913 and married Ethel, sister of Olive (35 San Jose Av, James Bay), in 1921. An insurance broker, by the early 1930s he was manager of Sun Life Assurance. Ethel, a member of Eastern Star for over 70 years, was a charter member of both Oak Bay Chapter No.42 and Carne Rebecca Lodge No.45.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:

• James Bay History

• James Bay Heritage Register



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