Heritage Register
James Bay

603 Toronto Street (ex-38 Toronto St)

Built 1891
Heritage-Registered

For: Margaret & William Garnham

ARCHITECTURE:

This shingled, cross-gabled, originally-one-storey, Queen Anne house was raised and now has a full basement. Like 601 Toronto St, it has a hip-roofed extension behind its two side-gabled, box bays. There is a flat-roofed angled bay in the front gable to the left of a flat-roofed rectangular wing. On the right rear of this wing is a shed-roofed porch with bracketed, square, chamfered posts. Most of the original double-hung sashes remain. There are now windows in the gables and a recent round-arched window in the front wing.

This house was the middle one of three built as revenue property by William and Margaret Garnham in 1891, and the only one they never lived in (see 609 Toronto St).

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

Tenants: 1892: Charles Flewin may have been the uncle of Albert Charles Flewin, who with wife Mary Augustine likely lived here before moving to 601 Toronto St.

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

1895-98: Frederick William Nolte (b. Germany c.1866-1941) and Annie Katherine (née Begelsbacher, b. St. Louis, IL 1863-1949) had, by 1901, moved around the corner to 329 Huntington Pl (demolished), where they lived for many years. They came to Victoria in 1890. Frederick was an optician.

1899-1908: Benjamin Lewis (c.1879-1949) and Eveline Hannah (née Parfitt, b. Somerset, ENG c.1876-1946), the daughter of Aaron Parfitt of Parfitt Bros, a well-known Victoria contracting firm (1923 Fernwood Rd, Fernwood). She came to Canada and married Benjamin in 1896. They later lived on Vining St in Fernwood. Benjamin was a wholesale clerk for some time. Eveline was a member of the Navy League Chapter, IODE.

1913-14: Parliamentary private secretary Augustin Symonds.
1917-26: William David Eldridge (b. London, ENG 1874-1955) and Alice (née Gelling, b. Liverpool, ENG 1880-1951) came here in 1910. William was a warehouseman for National Drug & Chemical, then an accountant.

1928: widow Florence Mary Zala, who later lived at 107 Ontario St.
1930-1960s: William Allan (b. SCT 1881-1967) and Annie (née Christie, b. SCT 1878-1972) came to Victoria in 1930. They raised the house and shingled it in 1930-31. William was a stonemason, then worked for the city’s waterworks department until retiring in 1933. He was a member of Kootenay Lodge, No. 15, Revelstoke, AF&AM, BCR.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:

• James Bay History

• James Bay Heritage Register



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