Heritage Register
Victoria West

350-52 Wilson Street
(ex-Esquimalt St; Old Esquimalt Rd; 321 Wilson St)

Built 1883
Heritage-Designated 1991

For: Albert Kittermaster

Builder: Albert Kittermaster

ARCHITECTURE:

This two-storey Queen Anne has a gable-on-hip roof with eaves brackets. Its two-storey square bay on the left side has a pedimented gable roof and a shingled pent roof between the floors. A hip-roofed verandah, with its shingled, pedimented entrance, has been reconstructed from a footprint found during excavation. It wraps around the front and left side and abuts the square bay. There is an angled bay to the left of the front door. The verandah has many square posts with scrollsawn concave brackets giving the appearance of arches. The balustrade is made up of sawn balusters. The house is clad in beaded drop siding. Before extensive rehabilitation, the upper storey had been shingled and the entire house was stuccoed. After stucco removal the shingles were left on the upper rear. The interior has retained its angel heads flanking the three bay windows. Louise (1947-2012) and Bruce Lemire-Elmore bought the house in 1990 and in 1994 won a Hallmark Society Award for their rehabilitation of the house.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

1883: This house, one of the oldest remaining in Vic West, was built by carpenter Albert Henry Kittermaster for $750, including the lot.

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

1884-1937: Seal hunter William George Goudie (b. Twillingate, Nfld, 1863-1936) and Rachel (née Hunt, b. Harbour Grace, Nfld, 1868-1900) moved in shortly after arriving in Victoria. Rachel died in March 1900 of typhoid fever. Their four-month-old daughter Jane “Eliza” died in July when a nurse accidently gave her carbolic acid instead of castor oil. In 1901 William was living in the house with his two young daughters, Muriel Alice Hunt and Beatrice, his brother Edward, a sealer, and wife Emma and their young children, Gertrude and Edward. The 1901 Census lists William twice, the other time as Mate on the schooner Saucey Lass; his earnings were $500 in 1900. In 1907 William married Marie Entwistle Yates (b. ENG, 1869-1957). In 1913 Muriel was a stenographer with Day & Boggs (1140 Arthur Currie Ln, Vic West). When the seal trade dried up, William became a roofer with Sidney Roofing. He was a member of the Far West Victoria Lodge No.1, Knights of Pythias and Western Star Lodge No.7, AOUW. Marie lived here until 1937, and later moved to New Westminster.

1937: Soldier and labourer Francis “Frank” Louis and Olive Mona Eileen Cammiade married in Victoria in 1930, when Frank was living at Work Point Barracks in Esquimalt and Olive was a telephone operator.
1939: Elizabeth Griffin, widow of John William Griffin, who married in Cranbrook, BC, in 1906 and farmed there for many years. John was a locomotive engineer when they married.

1940-43: Ruth A. Hooper, whose husband Frederick G. was on WWII active service.
1944-45: Mary McGuinness, whose husband Frank J. was on WWII active service.
1946-47: Alexander and Dorothy Carson; a former HBC window dresser, Alex was still on active service following WWII.
1948-51: PO Robert L.R. Murray, RCN, and his wife Ann.

Late 1960s: PO William Hilts, RCN, and his wife Jane. Their daughter Lara, born in 1968, fell out an upper front bedroom window, rolled down the cement steps, and bumped into the crawl-space door, all without injury! This earned her early fame in the local media.
1980: Rebel Sports Club purchased it for their clubhouse. The club included a Women’s Field Hockey Club.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:

• Vic West History

• Vic West Heritage Register

• Before & Afters


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