1124 Faithful Street

ARCHITECTURE:

Yaxley is considered to be one of Victoria’s best preserved examples of an Edwardian-era Georgian Revival house. The rectangular house sits on a double-wide lot set back from the street. The nearly symmetrical two-storey structure has an extension to one side. Its bellcast hipped roof has matching front and back dormers. Four corbelled brick chimneys have been painted. The exterior is clad in double-bevel beaded siding with corner boards and a wide belt course and cornice. The cornice is adorned with small dentils and modillions under the soffit. A larger band of dentils is found on the belt course and front porch entablature. Wooden stairs with a low solid balustrade lead to the imposing classically-inspired portico with four Tuscan columns and two pilasters. The glazed entry door is accentuated by narrow sidelights. An upstairs door provides access to a balcony with a low balustrade above the portico. Many windows feature leaded art glass. Shallow projecting box bays with brackets are on either side of the porch. The left bay features a tripartite window. Both side walls include similar bays, but with piano windows. Upper windows are casements in groups of two and three. Main floor windows are generally double hung or fixed.

A separate garage with folding doors and a scroll wire fence with gate complement the style of the house.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

Yaxley was named after the birthplace of the original owner of this house, Robert Lettice (1831-1917) who came to Canada from England c.1857. He first lived in Toronto, ON, and then sought his fortune in the goldfields of California before coming to Victoria in 1862. In 1866 he married Margaret McMaster (c.1842-1902) a native of Belfast, Ireland. The family spent several years in the Nicola Valley after their marriage before making Victoria their permanent home by the late 1870s. Robert Lettice was originally a principal of Lettice & Sears, the firm which decorated the interiors of many important early buildings. The firm was later reorganized as Melrose Paint Co. On the 1911 contract for this house, David Herbert Bale stated “to plans and specifications drawn by me.” It cost $6,000. Bale also did the alterations in 1929-30 to convert it to a duplex. The rumour that it was designed by F.M. Rattenbury is obviously untrue.

The family had lived at 814 Broughton before Robert built this house. His five daughters and one son resided here well into adulthood and even after marriage. Descendants of the family lived in the house until 2008.

Eldest daughter, Eleanor Susannah Lettice (1867-1935) was an active church worker and member of the Women’s Auxiliary at Royal Jubilee Hospital. Only son, William Henry Lettice (1869-1943), worked at Melrose Paint Co, eventually becoming superintendent. William fought in WWI, became a Major and was awarded the Order of the British Empire. In 1919 he married Gertrude Louise Blackall (1877-1966) in England.

Edith Martha Nicola Lettice (1870-1957) was a schoolteacher. Florence Mabel Lettice (1874-1953) married Sydney Arthur Staden (1879-1943) in Ottawa in 1918 and lived in Toronto, Halifax, and Vancouver before moving back to Yaxley after Sydney died.

Maude Mary Lettice (1878-1976) was an active church worker and a contemporary of Emily Carr with nine watercolor paintings at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (1040 Moss St, Rockland). Margaret Katherine “Kate” Lettice (1881-1982) married Francis Stone Spencer (1870-1957) of Kent, England, in Enderby, BC, in 1919. They lived in Vernon for many years, where Francis was involved in real estate and was for several years on Vernon City Council. Kate moved back to the family residence in Victoria after he died.