ARCHITECTURE:
One of the most imposing versions of the Italianate townhouse in the city, this house commands the corner of Rockland Av and Vancouver St, within the shadow of Christ Church Cathedral. It was designed by one of Victoria’s premiere architects John Teague. Teague was listed as architect by Hayward on the plumbing permit in 1893. This house cost $6,000 when built, making it one of the most lavish homes of the period.
This is an irregular cross-gabled 2½-storey house, with gabled wings on the front, right, and back, and a hipped one on the left. The majestic appearance of its front façade is somewhat diminished by a modern 1-storey stuccoed entrance vestibule in the left corner, topped by a flimsy metal railing. It has a narrow, towering front wing with corner boards topped by a gabled roof with closed eaves and massive brackets, flanked by similar wings on each side, The front wing has a single-storey ground-floor angled bay, with a two-part sash window on the second floor (topped by a metal railing), and a hooded, arched window at attic level. An elaborate carved frieze runs along the wall-roof juncture. The right wing is similar, with a double window instead of the bay. The house is clad in drop siding, and a narrow, carved belt course separates the first and second storeys. There is a single-storey stuccoed rear addition, abutting the original gabled wing, which has two upper windows similar to the right wing.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
Born in Stratford, Essex, England, Charles Hayward (1839-1919) married Sarah (McChesney, 1840-1901) in London in 1862, and arrived in Victoria in 1863, encouraged by Rev. Edward Cridge, who had been a clergyman at his family’s parish in Essex.
By the time he had built this house, Charles was in partnership with Charles W. Jenkinson, as “Hayward & Jenkinson, Sash and Door Factory, Contractors and Undertakers.” Jenkinson also lived on Vancouver St. They built the Thomas Nicholson Grocery at the SW corner of Douglas and Johnston streets in 1878. By 1884-85 the partnership had been dissolved, and Hayward was an undertaker, and proprietor of the Pioneer steam saw mill.
Charles was a member of City Council from 1873-74. In 1885 he was elected to the School Board and was chairman by 1898 when he again ran for City Council and was elected in the South Ward. He was elected Mayor of Victoria from 1900-02. Charles chaired the boards of the BC Protestant Orphanage and the Children’s Aid Home.
Hayward lived here until he died in 1919. Charles and Sarah had four children who lived to adulthood: Charles, Ernest Chesney, Reginald, and Florence. The eldest, Charles Hayward Jr (c.1864-1895) was a provincial timber inspector who died in Kamloops of tuberculosis.
Ernest Chesney (1876-1933) attended Stanford University and taught at Oregon State College in Corvallis, OR, from 1898-1905, then returned to Victoria and entered into partnership with T.W.C Hawkins, as Hawkins & Hayward, electrical engineering. Ernest was a school trustee and councillor in Oak Bay in the 1920s. His wife was Leone Leotta (Louis, 1872-1953), a native of Bluffton, IA.
Reginald (1880-1961) was still living here when he married Isabella Morrison Jaffrey (1881-1968) in 1908. He followed his father’s footsteps as an undertaker, and became president of Hayward’s Funeral Co. Reginald served with the local militia and was a school trustee in 1913, an alderman in 1922, Victoria Mayor in 1922-24, and finally MLA for Victoria in 1925. Reginald and Charles Hayward are the only father and son mayors in Victoria history.
Florence Hayward (1873-1945) was the only surviving sibling of what was said to be BC’s first set of triplets. Her mother received three guineas when news of the rare birth reached Queen Victoria. She was educated at St. Ann’s Academy (835 Humboldt St, Fairfield) and in Lachine, QC. For many years she was secretary of the Women’s Auxiliary at Royal Jubilee Hospital. Florence married Walter Stanhope Fraser (1870-1930) in 1901, and was living at this house with her father by 1914. Born in Liverpool, England, Walter came to Victoria in 1898. He and his brother Gilbert Goodwin Fraser (1521 Montgomery St, Rockland) were the proprietors of a hardware company for many years. Florence left this house shortly after Walter died, but it remained in the family, as her sister-in-law, Leone Hayward lived here in the mid-1940s.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
During the 1930s the house was known as St. Christopher’s College, and Miss Barbara Carlisle was in charge. By 1941, Miss Violet Bridgewater (1874-1955) was living here and operating a rooming house. It was apartments by the mid-1940s. A 1970s owner named it Roncalli House.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:
• Statement of Significance (Canadian Register of Historic Places)
• GIS Map of Victoria’s Heritage Register Properties
• This Old House, Victoria’s Heritage Neighbourhoods,
Volume Four: Fairfield, Gonzales & Jubilee
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