Heritage Register
Rockland
1759 Rockland Avenue (ex-72 Rockland Av)
Edgehill; Rosedene
Built
1897; 1914; 1926-27
Heritage-Designated 1988
For: James & Edgar Dewdney; Frederick & Mary Jones; Walter & Quita Nichol
Architects: John Gerhard Tiarks (1897);
Butler & Harrison (1914) Samuel Maclure (1926-27)
Contractors: Robert Knott & Harry Jones (1926-27)
ARCHITECTURE:
This British Arts & Crafts house, as originally designed
by J.G. Tiarks, now has Tudor Revival A&C additions
by Butler and Harrison, and later “motor porch” and
verandahs by Maclure. The multi-hipped roof has later
gabled extensions. The main façade is at right angles to
Rockland. The verandahs and porte-cochère are supported
by square timber posts with long brackets and square
balusters. The front and rear gables are stuccoed and halftimbered.
The front gable has prominent windows with
multi-paned leaded lights. Other windows are multi-paned in
various combinations. The tall chimneys are stuccoed with
contrasting brick caps and grey chimney pots. A flat-roofed
extension on the left side forms a balcony for the second
floor. The 1914 additions cost $15,000. The porte- cochère,
verandahs, circular drive and rustic stone retaining wall capped by sandstone slabs were added in 1926-27.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1897-1906: Jane Shaw (née Moir b. Sri Lanka, 1842-
1906) and The Hon. Edgar Dewdney (b. Devon, ENG 1835-
1916) married in 1864. Jane’s family were tea plantation
owners who settled near Hope, BC, in the 1860s. Edgar,
a civil engineer, came to BC in 1859 to lead the survey of
New Westminster townsite. In 1860 he built a road from
Hope to Wild Horse Creek, still known as the “Dewdney
Trail.” In 1868 Edgar represented the Kootenay region in the
Legislative Council. From 1871-79 he represented Yale in the
House of Commons, becoming Indian Affairs commissioner
in 1878. From 1881-88 Dewdney was Lt.-Gov. of the North-
West Territories (since 1905, the provinces of Alberta and
Saskatchewan). He returned to the House of Commons as
Minister of the Interior and Supt. Gen. of Indian Affairs. He
was Lt.-Gov. of BC from 1892-97. After leaving Cary Castle (1401 Rockland Av), the Dewdneys lived here until Jane’s
death. Edgar left politics after running unsuccessfully in New
Westminster in 1900, and returned to Victoria as a mining
broker and financial agent. He remarried in 1909, to Blanche,
the daughter of Col Charles John Kemeys-Tynte of Somerset,
ENG. They lived in Cadboro Bay.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1906-20: Frederick W. and
Mary Jones called the house Edgehill, made major additions
in 1914, sold it for $60,000 in August 1920, and moved to
1630 Rockland Av.
1920-24: Dr. Eugene Fuller (b. Massachusetts c.1859-
1930) and Margaret Elizabeth (née McTavish, b. New York
c.1860-1953) named the house Rosedene. Margaret was
the daughter of Duncan Archibald McTavish, manager of
the Bank of British North America. Her brother George
Archibald McTavish married Catherine Amelia Helmcken,
daughter of Dr. John and Cecilia Helmcken (638 Elliot
St, James Bay), and granddaughter of Sir James and Lady
Amelia Douglas. Eugene and Margaret married in Victoria
in 1890. Eugene practised medicine in New York, retired to
Victoria, then moved to Seattle.
1927-44: The Hon. Walter Cameron Nichol (b.
Goderich, ON, 1866-1928) and Quita Josephine March
(née Moore, b. London, ON 1875-1968) married in 1897
and came to BC. From 1888-95 Walter ran the Hamilton
Herald and The News in London, ON. He did some mining,
then came to Victoria as editor of The Weekly Province; he
and Hewitt Bostock (1322 Rockland Av) transferred it to
Vancouver the next year, as the Vancouver Daily Province.
After the death of Col. E.G. Prior (729 Pemberton Rd &
620 St. Charles St, Rockland) in 1920, Walter became
Lt.-Gov. of BC until 1926. He was the first to visit isolated
West Coast aboriginal villages. He retired after selling his
interest in the Province to Southam Newspapers of Canada.
Walter died a month after moving into the house, but Quita
remained until 1944, then moved to 914 St. Charles St.
1945-46: Royal Bank of Canada manager Earl George
MacMinn (b. Chester, NS 1890-1949) and Ethel “Hope”
(née Atwater, b. Boston, MA 1894-1982) (1648 Rockland
Av). Earl drowned while rowing a skiff on Somenos Lake,
Vancouver Island.
1947-48: Bank of Montreal manager
Osmond Matson (b. Piddington, ENG 1893-1968) and
Doreen Mary (née Jefferson, b. London, ENG 1903-1978)
married in Vancouver in 1930.
1949-50: 1759 Rockland
was converted to seven apartments by auto repairman
Victor M. Clarke, who lived in #3 with his wife Elizabeth.
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
