Heritage Register
Rockland
1022-24 McGregor Avenue
Oakley
Built
1893
Heritage-Registered
For: Ewen Morrison
ARCHITECTURE:
Oakley is a two-storey, cross-gabled Queen Anne house
with a gable-on-hip roof behind a front-facing pedimented
gable. There is a gabled two-storey square bay on the left
side, and a gabled two-storey angled bay on the right. All
three main gables are pedimented and bracketed, and have
decorative bargeboards. A wide box bay on the left front
is separated from the verandah beneath by a wide belt
course which continues around the house. The wrap-around
verandah is shallower on the right because of the large
angled bay, and has an unusual rounded and cantilevered
roof. The verandah has chamfered posts on stone piers with
stone balustrades on the entry steps. The house is clad in
drop siding, the gables and belt course in fishscale shingles.
The foundation is granite. The house was converted to
a duplex in 1972 by G. Raps. The upper-storey box bay
attached awkwardly on the left front is a later addition with
Arts & Crafts windows.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1893: Lumber merchant Ewen Morrison (1860-1937)
built this house in 1893 for $2,000, but never lived here.
1895-97: The Hon. Archer Evan Stringee “Archie” Martin
(b. Hamilton, ON, 1865-1941) and Emily Mary (née Read,
b. Toronto, ON 1863-1940) married in 1889. Archie was
educated in Ontario and Belgium, and was called to the
Manitoba bar in 1887 and the BC bar in 1894. He had an
extensive law career, eventually becoming Chief Justice of
BC in 1937. He retired in 1940. Archie was the brother of
lawyer and judge Alexis Martin (1598 Rockland Av).
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1898-1906: Percy Wollaston (b. Leeds, ENG c.1826-
1909) and Catherine Agnes (c.1826-1901) immigrated
to Fairmont, MN, in the 1860s. Percy was a banker there
for many years. They retired to Victoria c.1890. Their son
Percy Wollaston, Jr was the long-time financial manager
of Wilson Brothers, wholesale grocers. Percy lived at 1732
Oak Bay Av, where his father died in 1909.
1907-17: Owner William McLean was a traveller.
1918-21: Retired ranchers John Reginald Redpath (1871-
1951) and Florence Amelia (née Botterall, 1872-1944)
came from Montreal.
1923: William E. McIntyre, an agent
with Mutual Life insurance.
1925-26: Liberal-Conservative
and taught at Tillicum and Cedar Hill Schools, then
Esquimalt High School from 1917. In 1926 she became
principal of that school – the first woman high school
principal in BC. For unknown reasons she gave up the
position to Clive Kelly the next year. Gwen taught English
Literature, French and Drama. The Esquimalt Drama Club
always took top honours in the Greater Victoria Drama
Festival, and she received the Canadian Drama Award
in recognition of her contribution to the performing arts.
Gwen was a world traveller, collector of antiques, patron
of the arts, student of Shakespeare and a popular teacher.
Association secretary William Duck.
1927: Basil S. Hartley,
a teacher at Victoria College.
1928: James Travis, a
seedsman, and his daughters Jean, a student at the Normal
School, and Winifred, a steno with BC Cement.
1930-41: George Holt (b. London, ENG 1885-1960)
and Ethel Irene (née Bird, b. Manitoba 1891-1957). In
1913, in a double ceremony with his sister Ruby and her
fiancè Edwin Parsons, George married Ethel, who came
to Victoria in 1910. George, partner in the plumbing firm
Thacker & Holt, came to Victoria with his family in 1891.
His father, contractor and builder William Curryer Holt,
constructed their first Victoria home, 408 Alpha Tce in
Burnside, in 1892 [from 1987-2013 that house was
the headquarters of Vintage Woodworks]. As a member
of the congregation, William volunteered as construction
manager for the building of the 1891-92 Centennial
Methodist Church (612 David St, Burnside).
1942-47: Retired schoolteacher Ethel Alford (b. ON
1894-1947) taught at Calgary High School for 26 years.
1948-50: John C. and Rebecca J. Stillman; John was
proprietor of The Pines rooming house at 1246 Balmoral
Rd.
1951-56: Victoria Police Sergeant Robert Thomas Mair
(b. Victoria 1916-1964) and Phyllis Muriel (née Laycock,
1911-1979). Robert served with the RCAF in WWII.
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
