Heritage Register
Rockland
906 Pemberton Road
Built
1910-11
Heritage-Designated 2001
For: Edward & Lola Grierson
Architect:
Samuel Maclure
Contractor: Andrew Henry Mitchell
ARCHITECTURE:
This is a stunning example of the British Arts & Crafts
Tudor Revival. The main roof of this 2½-storey house is
steeply hipped with exposed rafter tails. It has substantial
gabled extensions on the front and two sides. There are
two gabled dormers, one to the left of the front-facing
gable, the other on the rear. All the gables are jettied
with corbels and have wide bargeboards and finials.
The gable on the right front has a very shallow secondstorey
box bay on its right half and on its left half, a
balcony projects over the front entry porch. There is
a large deck over a one-storey extension on the left
side. On the right side is a large balcony over the side
entry porch and porte-cochère. The gables and upper
floor are heavily half-timbered with roughcast stucco.
The main floor at front and sides is clad in granite,
including the battered front porch piers and the straight
piers of the porte-cochère. The rear is clad in shingles.
The open verandah of stone-capped granite on either
side of the front porch wraps around to the porte-cochère.
There are two granite chimneys, an external one on
the right side. The property retains its front granite wall and
wrought iron railings. The house was built for $12,000, and
has been extensively rehabilitated. It is now a single family
dwelling once again, with several condominiums built at the
rear of the property in a sympathetic style.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1910-22: Edward/Edmund Delgare/Delsart “Del”
Grierson (b. Durham, ON 1861-1922) worked his way west
in construction for the CPR starting in Winnipeg in the
1880s. Del made his money as an Edmonton hotelier and
real estate investor, and was a City Councillor
1901-04. Several landmarks were named for
him, including Grierson Presbyrerian Church
(Del donated the land for the first church
building), Delton neighbourhood and Grierson
Hill. In 1892, Del purchased the Queens Hotel
in Edmonton with partner Fred Jackson. He
later built, managed and lived in the Alberta
Hotel. In 1902 he married Mrs. Lola Dittebrandt
Booth (b. St. Louis, USA, c.1875), who came
to Canada in 1896. They moved to Victoria in
1909; Del died here in 1922.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1922-31: In 1926 Lola married her
neighbour, widower Alfred Cornelius
Flumerfelt (b. Markham, ON 1856-1930)
in Calgary. He lived at 835 Pemberton Rd
Ruhebuhne (demolished) with his first wife Ada Annie
(née Kilvington, 1857-1924) (855 Pemberton Rd). Alfred
began in the wholesale boot and shoe business, which
eventually became Ames, Holden & Co, and came to BC in
1886 as company representative. He was involved in many
organizations including the Board of Trade, Jubilee Hospital
and the Protestant Orphans Home. Flumerfelt entered the
political field, was elected an MLA, and Premier William
Bowser appointed him Minister of Finance in 1915. His
political career was short-lived: Harlan Carey Brewster
ran against him in a 1916 by-election in Victoria and won.
Alfred and Lola lived in this house until his death, and Lola
then appears to have left the City.
Tenants: 1932: Mrs. L. Russell.
1933-34: John Moore
Nichol (1899-1941) and Minnie Lister (née Beveridge).
1937: Gilbert Dalrymple Irwin and Grace Madeline
(née McFeely) married in Vancouver in 1922 and came
to Victoria in 1932.
1939-52: Haliburton Hugh Weldon
and Eunice Bowser (née Irving, 1896-1972). Eunice was
widowed in 1947, but her husband didn’t die in BC. Eunice
was born in New Brunswick and came to Victoria in 1913.
A niece of BC Premier William Bowser, Eunice then lived
at 1001 Terrace Av, Rockland, until her death.
1955-58:
Jessie Sweeting moved here after the death of her husband
(638 Rockland Pl); her long-time neighbour at 638
Rockland, Florence Wright, moved here after 1958.
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
