Heritage Register
North Park
1054 Princess Avenue
Built
1911-12
Heritage-Registered
For: William & Margaret Lindley
Architect: Lord Wilfred Hargreaves
ARCHITECTURE:
This is a 1½-storey, bellcast hip-roofed, Colonial
Bungalow The façade appears to be symmetrical but for
an angled bay on the left balanced by a picture window on the right. There are bellcast, hip-roofed dormers on
all sides. Classical features include the paired modillions
on the eaves of the dormers and the main roof, and the
fluted Doric columns. There is a cantilevered angled bay
under the eaves on the left side. The recessed, full-width
front verandah has clusters of columns on concrete bases
supported on battered, random rock piers. The verandah
balustrade is composed of decorative curved balusters of
unusual design. The front steps are low and flared and
have concrete capped balustrades. The rock of the front
foundation, piers and balustrades
unifies the front
verandah. The panelled front
door and sidelights have
original art glass. Several
windows have etched and
bevelled glass with central
fleur-de-lys. A recessed rear
porch has one chamfered
post and a solid balustrade.
The body of the house is clad
in double-bevelled siding and
the basement below the water
table is shingled.
William Lindley (b. Lincolnshire, ENG 1857-1921)
built this bungalow for $3,500, based on drawings by local
architect, L.W. Hargreaves. William was listed at 1050
Princess in 1912, and lived in 1054 briefly in 1917-18. A
taxidermist, he came to Victoria in 1886. He was a furrier
in partnership with Frederick Foster for a number of years,
and eventually formed his own business on Government
St, BC Fur Co. He retired from this business c.1913, and
began working with the Exhibition Department of the
CPR Natural Resources Branch installing natural history
exhibits in various cities across Canada. William was a
member of the Sons of England. His wife, Margaret (née
Anderson, c.1872-1957) was born in Antrim, Ireland. The
family lived at 1048 Pandora for many years.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
The earliest recorded resident of this house was Alfred
Goodwin (b. ENG 1876-1963) in 1913. Alfred, a naval
cook, came to Canada in the early 1900s. In 1919 he
married Mary Charlotte (née Hudd, then Gull, b. London,
ENG 1876-1939), who came to Victoria in 1912.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
Aleck
Clark lived here in 1914.
From 1920-35, astronomer William Edmund Harper
(b. Bruce Co, ON 1878-1940) and Maude Eugenia (née
Hall, 1876-1949) lived here. William graduated from the
University of Toronto in 1906 and joined the Dominion
Observatory in Ottawa. He was transferred to the Dominion
Astrophysical Observatory in Victoria in 1918, and
became its second director in 1936. He was active in the
popularization of astronomy, and the University of Toronto
granted him an honorary doctorate in 1935. He died at the
observatory in 1940.
Olive Jemsen Brown (née Cramp, b. London, ENG
1884-1960), widow of William James Worsfold Brown (1879-1918), lived here in 1939. She came to Canada in
1914. William was a civil servant, and died of a sudden
illness in 1918. Olive was the secretary of the St. Barnabas
Guild for many years. Widow Margaret Robb (née
Cochrane, b. Glasgow, SCT 1887-1969) lived here until
1946. She came to Canada in 1929, and lived in Prince
Rupert for a time before coming to Victoria. William C.
Falk, a janitor at the Metropolis Hotel, and his wife May,
owned this house in 1947.
By 1951 the residents were William Edward Teele (1907-1983), a driver with Bray’s Transfer, and his wife Pearl Elizabeth (Tucker). They later divorced.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:
• Map of Victoria Heritage Register Properties
• North Park History
• North Park Heritage Register
• This Old House, Victoria's Heritage Neighbourhoods,
Volume Three: Rockland, Burnside, Harris Green,
Hillside-Quadra,
North Park & Oaklands
