Heritage Register
Rockland

1020-22 St. Charles Street
(ex-10 or 12 St Charles St)

Built 1900; 1956
Heritage-Designated 2004

For: Sewell & Matilda Moody; Helen Hummell

Architect: John A. Di Castri (1956)

ARCHITECTURE:

By comparing the c.1905 and present day photos, it is evident that this 1½-storey Shingle-style / Arts & Crafts house has undergone a major transformation. The original façade has been altered by removing the tower on the left front corner. The hipped roof has been extended and altered to a front jerkin-headed gable. There are now main floor, shed-roofed extensions on both sides, a long shed-roofed dormer on the right, a hip-roofed dormer on the left, and a large two-storey addition on the rear. The inset entry porch on the right front corner now has a square arch, a square shingled post and two small square pilasters replacing a rounded arch and smaller chamfered posts. To the left is a shallow box bay under the roofline. It has a brick foundation.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

1900-17: Sewell Prescott Moody Jr (1874-1949) was the son of timber baron Sewell Prescott Moody Sr. [Born in Maine, Sewell Sr. came to BC in 1862 and logged in New Westminster. In 1865 he bought a Burrard Inlet sawmill on the North Shore, and established the community of Moodyville, which was renamed North Vancouver in 1891. He drowned in 1875 when the SS Pacific sank off Victoria on its way to San Francisco.]

In 1898 Sewell Jr married Susan “Matilda” Gooch (1878-1952) of Port Discovery, WA. [His aunt Elizabeth Bowron lived at 1418 Fernwood Rd.] In the early 1900s he worked for Simon Leiser (1005 St. Charles St). By 1917 Sewell was in insurance, where he remained until retiring in 1947. Matilda was an active member of IODE. They lived at 1030 Terrace Av, Rockland, in 1929-31. Matilda opened their later home in Brentwood Bay to the Red Cross during WWI and during WWII was a Red Cross convener.
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OTHER OCCUPANTS:

1918-20: BCER tram conductor Herbert and Pauline Middleton had lived at 740 Mary St, Vic West, in 1903- 08.

1923-54: George Herbert Dawson (1866-1940) and his sister Mary Fry Dawson (1864-1954) lived at 1162 Fort St, Fernwood, in 1909-16, then 1737 Rockland Av in 1917-18. Born in Quebec City, George came to BC in 1890 as a McGill-trained civil engineer. In Vancouver he and his firm, Dawson & Elliot, were responsible for laying out the townsite of North Vancouver, formerly Moodyville. George came to Victoria in 1909 when he was appointed BC’s Surveyor-General. He retired in 1917 and lived at this house until his death. His sister Mary came to Victoria in 1911 to live with her unmarried brother. She died in this house in 1954.

1955-65: Howard and Grace Hummel lived here a year, then the house was converted to duplex in 1956 for Harold Victor Hummel (b. Leeds, ENG 1891-1963) and Helen Imogen (née Warren) by architect John A. Di Castri for $2,000. Harold, a chartered accountant with the BC Government, retired in 1957 and lived at 1020 St Charles until his death. David M.W. Hummel of Hummel & Warren, Barristers & Solicitors, lived at 1020 in 1958.

The house is now part of a seniors’ care home.

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