Heritage Register
Rockland

1015 Gillespie Place (ex-931 Gillespie Pl)

Built 1924-26
Heritage-Registered

For: Frederick & Augusta Pollard

Designer/Builder: Star Bungalow Construction Co.

ARCHITECTURE:

This two-storey house, built on land subdivided from the Highwood property (see 1021 Gillespie Pl), has a hipped roof with wide eaves and four hip-roofed dormers. There are two front-facing hip-roofed wings and full-width, balustraded porch and upper balcony across the front. There is a porte-cochère on the left and a single-storey, flat-roofed, sunroom on the right. The basic form is Foursquare. Classical Revival elements include denticulated string course, paired Doric columns, andbalusters in the shape of classical columns. The central entry has leaded glass in the door and two wide sidelights. Tripartite windows on the façade have solid centre panes and leaded-glass transoms. It is clad in bevelled siding with a stuccoed foundation.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

1926-45: Frederick Pollard (1878-1950) and Augusta Rose (née Cameron, 1885-1938) retired to Victoria from Japan in 1923. Frederick was a silk merchant for many years. Their son William Frederick, a clerk for BC Bond Corp, lived with them. After Augusta’s death in 1938, Fred married Isabel Easton.

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

1945-50: Brig. Frederick Norman Cabeldu (b. London, ENG 1905-1976) married widow Helen Jean Marie Farrer (née Gibson, b. Winnipeg 1907-1972) in Oak Bay in 1932. In 1930 Fred lived at 1075 Verrinder Av, Rockland. Fred was a realtor and partner in Cabeldu & May Ltd, Investments, and a member of the Victoria Real Estate Board. During WWII, Cabeldu commanded the 1st Battalion, Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary’s), in the Normandy invasion on D-Day, June 6, 1944. France gave him its premier honour, a Knighthood in the French Legion of Honour, and the Croix de Guerre. Later, he was Brigadier in command of the 4th Canadian Infantry Brigade in northwest Europe. He and Helen moved to Sidney in the early 1950s. After Helen’s death, Fred married Margaret Alice Brinkman.

1951-52: Royal Jubilee Hospital radiologist William Gilmore and his wife, Marion.

1954-67: Dr. James Joseph O’Reilly (b. Portage La Prairie 1895-1973) and Marcelle (née Sickinger); Dr. O’Reilly retired in 1966.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:

• Map of Victoria's Heritage Register Properties

• Rockland History

• Rockland Heritage Register


• This Old House, Victoria's Heritage Neighbourhoods,
Volume Three: Rockland, Burnside, Harris Green,
Hillside-Quadra, North Park & Oaklands