Heritage Register
Victoria West

740 Mary Street (ex-15, then 734 Mary St)

Built 1903
Heritage-Designated 1990

For: Herbert & Pauline Middleton

ARCHITECTURE:

This 1½-storey Homestead Style house has a front-gabled roof. There is a hip-roofed square bay on the right side, and a hip-roofed extension on the left back. The front two storeys are separated by a wide hipped roof, with a deep angled bay on the lower left. The adjacent porch has two slender, turned, backeted posts, with turned spindles in the frieze and turned balusters. The aprons differ in style between the upper and lower windows. The house is clad in drop siding. The address was 15 Mary until 1905 and 734 Mary till 1958.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

Owners: 1903-08: BCER tram conductor Herbert Benjamin Middleton (b. Nichol, ON, 1873) of the Plymouth Brethren, and Pauline Mansell (b. Victoria, 1879), Church of England, married in Victoria in 1901 and embarked on the steamer Rosalie for their honeymoon. [Note: Pauline was the daughter of Frances and Henry Mansell, a bootmaker; Frances’s parents, Hannah and John Parker, Sr, came on the third voyage of the Norman Morison in 1853 (see 1192 Fort St, Fernwood).]

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

1908-10: The Rev. Arthur E. Roberts, pastor at Vic West Methodist Church and a widower, married Agnes May Monteith in Victoria in October 1908. 1910-13: The Rev. James A. Wood, pastor of VWMC.
1914-15: Retiree Walter Lloyd Hine of Royal Oak.
1916: Marion Christine Hine of Washington State.
Tenants: 1914: Capt. David Llewellyn and Rosa Elizabeth Jones lived at 1004 Catherine St, Vic West, from 1910-13.
1918: Musician, painter and decorator David Cornelius and Edith Rife; Edith Bloomfield was born in Victoria in 1872. David signed up for WWI where he was in the Military Band and served overseas.

1921: BCER motorman Arthur and Thomasina “Ina” Chesworth married in Victoria in 1913, shortly after they immigrated from England and Scotland. Arthur retired as a BC Electric inspector.
1926-27: Logger Joseph William Mawle arrived from England in 1910 before his family; in 1911 he was working in Shawnigan as a house painter. With him in 1926-27 were his wife Emily and their offspring: Woolworth saleswoman Phyllis Kathleen; Commercial Photo Service photographer and chauffeur William Waddy; painter and mechanic Stanley Walter; and truck driver Frederick John. When Emily died, she lived at 1429 Vining St, Fernwood.
1928: Lemon, Gonnason Co millworker Samuel Johnston and Lily Grexton. Sam signed up for the CEF in WWI in 1916. He retired in 1960 after 28 years with Victoria Water Works.

1930-42: Carpenter Robert Lee and his wife Mima C.
1943-75: Matthew Leggeat (b. SCT, 1899-1965), a storeman for the Canadian Government, Dora Catherine (née Nicoll, b. SCT, 1900-1975) and son Matthew Irvine Leggeat, a CG rigger and soldier. From 1943-45, Matthew Sr was on WWII active service.
1944-46: Hazel Hurst lived here with Dora and Matthew Jr while Hazel’s husband George was on WWII active service. Hazel was a saleswoman at Hill’s Corner Grocery and Cross’ Meat Stores.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:

• Map of Victoria's Heritage Register Properties

• Vic West History

• Vic West Heritage Register



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