Heritage Register
Rockland

811 St. Charles Street
Hesket

Built 1905; 1925-26
Heritage-Designated 1985

For: Joseph & Augusta Wilson

Architects: John Charles Malcolm Keith (1905);
Samuel Maclure (1925-26)
Contractors: William Francis Drysdale (1905); Williams, Trerise & Williams (1925-26)

ARCHITECTURE:

Hesket is a 2½-storey, front-gabled, Tudor Revival Arts & Crafts house. The garden façade on the right side has two gabled extensions; there is a full-height gabled bay and a small dormer on the left side. All gables have short finials. The garden façade has a balustraded balcony on the rear extension above what was originally the conservatory and a hip-roofed enclosed porch to the left. The front façade has a bank of four casement windows in a shallow oriel bay in the gable; on the main floor is an angled bay to the left of a porte-cochère with square brick piers which support a balustraded balcony; the porte-cochère shelters the main entry. Maclure added the angled bay, porte-cochère and the large balcony on the right rear. A belt course separates the the lower floor from the upper. The main storey is brick, the second is half-timbered and stuccoed, as are the gables except for the upper front and the rear gables, which are shingled. The quatrefoil motif in the front gable is repeated in the balcony balustrades. Hesket, which cost $7,500 initially, was built the same year as Joe Wilson’s brother Biggarstaff’s house at 1770 Rockland Av.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

1905-55: Joseph Eibeck Wilson (b. Victoria 1867-1945) and Augusta Amelia (née Erb, b. Victoria 1874-1955) lived here until their deaths. Joe was the eldest son of Victoria clothier William Wilson of W&J Wilson. On the death of his uncle Joseph in 1900, Joe became manager of the business. He retained this position until shortly before his death in 1945, although in 1922 he passed on active management duties to his only son Joseph Harold Wilson. Joe was educated in Switzerland. In 1896 he married Augusta, whose sister Bertha married his brother, Biggerstaff (1770 Rockland Av) in 1900. Their parents, Ludwig Emil and Augusta Erb owned the Victoria Brewery from 1870-92. Augusta and Bertha attended Angela College. Joe, an avid golfer, was a founding member of the Seniors’ Northwest Golf Association in 1923. He won the grand championship in 1928 and 1929, and in 1938 was elected president of the association.

The house was converted to six suites in 1955, then seven in 1956.

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