Heritage Register
Rockland
750 Pemberton Road
Endiang; Pemberton Lodge; Pemberton Meadows
Built
1899-1900
Heritage-Designated 2001; carriage house 2018
For: John & Alice Mara
ARCHITECTURE:
Endiang stands at right angles to the street. This is a
2½-storey home with a two-storey octagonal tower on one
corner and angled bays surrounded by recessed, enclosed
porches on the other; the upper is a sleeping porch. It has
a bellcast roof with four matching bellcast dormers and
wide closed eaves. A one-storey octagonal bay with bellcast
roof faces the street. There is a wide flared, belt course
separating the two storeys, with shingles above and beaded,
double-bevelled siding below. A bank of five elaborate Arts
& Crafts stained glass windows interrupts the belt course
on the rear of the house. The 1960s photo shows a recessed
front doorway; the present entry is flush with the main
wall. The house is modified inside to accommodate suites,
but the entrance hall retains its woodwork. The foundation
and front step balustrade are of granite and sandstone with
red rectangular pointing. There are three towering double-corbelled
brick chimneys. At the rear of the property, a
substantial, towered coach house has been converted to
suites. The house is well preserved and still enjoys its
generous lawns, while so many of its neighbours have
succumbed to subdivision of property and infill.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1899-1920: John Andrew Mara (b. Toronto 1840-1920)
in 1862 travelled across the country by boat and on foot
with the famous Overlanders, including R.B. McMicking
and John Fannin. He settled near Kamloops in 1869 and
established the first fleet of steamboats in the area. John
became interested in politics and was a staunch supporter
of Confederation. He ran for the first Legislature and was
elected in the Kootenay region, and later in Yale. From
1883-86 he was Speaker. He was then elected to the House
of Commons for Yale, and remained until Hewitt Bostock
(1322 Rockland Av) defeated him in 1896.
John often visited Victoria, and was a friend of Frank
Barnard (1462 Rockland Av), who owned the Cariboo
Express Co, the “BX Express.” John married Frank’s
daughter, Alice Telfer Barnard (c.1859-1906) in Victoria
in 1882 and they lived in Kamloops for many years. John
was ready for retirement after losing to Bostock in 1896,
but the Klondike Gold Rush piqued his interest. He had
a sternwheeler built, the Stikine Chief, which he intended
to use to dredge for gold, but the ship was lost in rough
seas. Alice was in Europe at this time while their daughter
Ellen Frances “Nellie” (1882-1956) attended school in
Switzerland. John met them in England, they returned to
Victoria and had this house built on a parcel of Alice’s
family property behind 1462 Rockland Rd, Duvals. Alice
died of cancer in 1906. John was an active member of the
Victoria Board of Trade (Chamber of Commerce), Royal
Jubilee Hospital, and the Anti-Tuberculosis Society. He
lived in this house until his death.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1927-56: The house remained in the Mara family,
but was vacant until 1927 when Nellie Mara married
Alan Brooks Morkill (b. Sherbrooke, QC 1882-1956).
Alan, the nephew of William Morkill (852 Pemberton
Rd) came to BC in 1907 and worked for the Canadian
Bank of Commerce throughout the province. During
WWI he was a lieutenant with the 88th Battalion and won
the Military Cross. He returned to banking after the war;
at the outbreak of WWII he resigned as manager of the
Douglas and Cormorant branch and served as a major with
the Canadian Scottish Regiment. Alan was a noted local
botanist and president
of the Vancouver Island
Rock and Alpine Garden
Society for nearly 20
years. The Morkills
frequently opened their
garden for tours.
Nellie was heavily
involved with the Girl
Guides of Canada for 28
years, rising to provincial
commissioner in 1926.
She resigned from active
guiding in 1943, but
remained a member of the
World Association of Girl
Guides and Girl Scouts,
the Canadian council, the
BC executive, and chairman of the Greater Victoria camp
committee. Nellie was away in England at a Girl Guide
conference when her husband died in 1956. She died in
Victoria eight months later.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:
• Rockland History
• Rockland Heritage Register
• This Old House, Victoria's Heritage Neighbourhoods,
Volume Three: Rockland, Burnside, Harris Green,
Hillside-Quadra,
North Park & Oaklands
