Heritage Register
Oaklands
1531 Edgeware Road
Built
1913
Heritage-Designated 2013
For: George Varney
ARCHITECTURE:
The house is a modest Craftsman Bungalow built for
George Varney for $1,800 in late 1913, just as the pre-
WWI building boom was starting to decline. This is one of
the oldest houses in this block of Edgeware, as most of the
others were built as Veterans Homes after WWII through
Wartime Housing Ltd.
This front-gabled house has a small window in the gable,
and a front-gabled corner porch inset into the left side of
the main gable. To the right of the porch is shallow, cantilevered
box bay below a pent roof. The porch gable has
sharp bargeboard ends matching those on the main gable;
square posts and chunky brackets support the porch roof.
The front door with bevelled glass is one of the standard
Craftsman Arts & Crafts designs. The porch balustrade is
solid and the steps are side-facing. A flat-roofed dormer
on the right side of the house is likely a later addition.
A shallow, cantilevered box bay with a piano window is
below and to the left of the dormer. The piano window has
art glass. The main floor is clad in double-bevelled siding,
the basement and gables are shingled. Panelled doors to
the basement garage are under the porch. The house was
likely raised to accommodate the garage and basement.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1913-46: George Varney (b. London, ENG, 1885-
1943) immigrated to Canada in 1908. In 1911 he earned
$720 as a fire fighter and boarded with at least 22 other
fire fighters at No.1 Fire Hall on Cormorant St. By 1913
he was a City Police Constable. He remained with the
Police Department and was a Sergeant by 1940. In 1914
George married Maude (née Ball, b. London, ENG, 1892)
in Victoria. Their children Vernon F. and Winnifred E.
Varney were still living at this address in the 1930s while
students. George died of encephalitis lethargica at the age
of 58. This unusual and disturbing illness is sometimes
referred to as “sleepy sickness.” An epidemic of the disease
occurred in 1916, and continued well into the 1920s,
devastating millions of people throughout the world. After
George’s death Maud remained in the house until 1946.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1948: Mechanic Alec McKinnon and his wife Eileen.
1949-51: Douglas J. and Joan Richardson; Doug was a
clerk at the Post Office.
1952-70: Harold W. Gollmer and Jean Evelyn “Nicky”
(née Nickel, b. Outlook, SK 1922-2011). Nicky graduated
from the Regina General Hospital School of Nurses in
1945 and married
Harold Gollmer in
July. Harold was
discharged from the
RCN at the end of
the war and they
moved to Victoria
where Nicky
worked as a head
nurse at the Royal
Jubilee Hospital in
the Department of
Veterans Affairs’
Memorial Pavilion.
Harold worked for
the Victoria City
Police. By 1956 he
was employed as a fire fighter for the Canadian Government.
The Gollmers had three sons.
1970-80: The Gollmers divorced
and Nicky remained in the house another ten years.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:
• Map of Victoria Heritage Register Properties
• Oaklands History
• Oaklands Heritage Register
• This Old House, Victoria's Heritage Neighbourhoods,
Volume Three: Rockland, Burnside, Harris Green,
Hillside-Quadra,
North Park & Oaklands
