Heritage Register
Victoria West

419 Henry Street

Built 1912
Heritage-Designated 2000

For: David & Alice Fowler

Designer/Contractor: James Finmore

ARCHITECTURE:

This house is a front-gabled Edwardian Vernacular Arts & Crafts house with gabled roof dormers on the sides. It has an angled bay on the left adjacent to a recessed corner porch. The porch now has square balusters and three piers, with the corner pier supporting a square post, as shown on Finmore’s house plans. There is an almost full-width balcony on the left side of the main floor. All gables are stuccoed and half-timbered, the body of the house and the dormers are shingled. The house is supported on a prominent random rubble masonry foundation.

Contractor James Finmore (b. Kempton, Beds, ENG, 1860-1917) came to Victoria in 1890 and worked on the construction of St. Saviour’s Church, 310 Henry St. In 1892 he married Louisa Susanna Carter (b. Jersey, CHI, 1865-1933) in the church. James was Clerk of the Works, HMC Dockyard when it was the Royal Navy prior to 1905. He trained as a carpenter and became a contractor/designer when he retired.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

1912-37: David Fowler (b. ENG, c.1859-1937) and Alice (née Brown, b. ENG, 1866-1934) came to Victoria in 1908 after David had served 20 years with the Royal Marines. He became private secretary to prominent Victoria businessman Joseph A. Sayward, and as an accountant, managed the Sayward Block until his retirement in 1934. David died while visiting his siblings in Portland, OR. He was a member of Victoria Columbia Lodge No.1 AF&AM.

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

1938-67: William John Barnes (b. Midway, BC, c.1906) and Iris Anne (née Fairall, b. Victoria, c.1908) married in Victoria in 1931. Before WWII John worked as a mechanic for Thomas Plimley. He then moved to Yarrows shipyard, where he was working in maintenance by 1946, and their son William L. Barnes was an apprentice by 1951. Iris was a grandaughter of Vic West pioneers Anne and Henry Fairall, originally from Ryde, Isle of Wight. They emigrated to Orillia, ON in 1881 and came to Victoria in 1888. Her parents were James and Lucy Fairall (505-507 Springfield St, Vic West).

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:

• Vic West History

• Vic West Heritage Register



• This Old House, Victoria's Heritage Neighbourhoods,
Volume One: Fernwood & Victoria West