Heritage Register
Rockland
534 St. Charles Street (ex-504 St. Charles St)
Schalaheen
Built
1907; 1955
Heritage-Designated 1985
For: James & Nora Grahame;
Montague & Nancy Tyrwhitt-Drake
Architects: Francis Mawson Rattenbury (1907)
Wade, Stockdill & Armour (1955)
ARCHITECTURE:
This two-storey house has several Rattenbury traits:
the imposing height, the multiple hipped rooflines, wide
eaves, and shingled walls below half-timbering and
roughcast stucco. A prominent belt course separates
the two floors. The garden façade on the left side has a
flat-roofed dormer between two full-height box bays;
the garden entrance between the lower bays has a flared,
hipped roof. In 1955 a second floor addition was added
on the rear. The small door on the right side has always
been the main entrance. The street façade has a wide box
bay above a narrower box bay. Small, shingled hoods
shade the lower windows, many of which have horns and
leaded transoms. The foundation is of stone, and the two
chimneys are corbelled. Subdivision of the property has
hemmed in the house.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1907-33: James Ogden Grahame (1851-1944) was
born at the HBC post at Fort Vancouver, WA, where his
father, HBC factor James Allan Grahame, was in charge
for several years before the US gained control. In 1874
James Sr was Chief Commissioner of the HBC in Canada,
and James Jr was his secretary. He was an HBC manager
when he retired. James Ogden’s first marriage, in 1878 in
Winnipeg, was to Harriet Thomas, youngest daughter of
HBC Chief Factor Thomas Thomas. She presumably died,
or they divorced. In 1883 James married Hamilton, ON,
native Nora Goodchild Sadleir (1863-1933), in Winnipeg.
They came to BC soon after. The Grahames lived in this
house until Nora died in 1933. James was living in the
Glenshiel Hotel when he died.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
The house was vacant in the late 1930s.
1943-52:
Harry William Walker (1867-1954) and Emma Florence
(née Cole, 1862-1947) were born in London, ENG. Harry
came to Victoria in 1889 and Emma in 1891, the year they
married. Harry retired in 1947 after 30 years as a grocer.
1953-82: Judge Montague L. Tyrwhitt-Drake
(b. 1922) and his wife Nancy (née Lang, b. 1922)
commissioned an addition in 1955, designed by Wade
Stockdill & Armour. It included a second floor at the rear
on top of the kitchen and the cook’s quarters.
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
