ARCHITECTURE:
This single-storey, L-shaped, Mansard-style house has a verandah set into the angle of the L. The roof has a profusion of dormers, all new with 1980s additions on the enlarged back section of the house, all with shallow gabled roofs flush with the walls, and new faux multi-paned 1-over-1 windows. The original dormers had roofs which began slightly below the main roofline and had overhangs. Drop siding covers the main walls and dormers. The main front window is an angled bay set in the corner with single panes below multi-paned leaded art glass. Most window heads have a pedimented cap, but without mouldings. Turned posts connected with slender turned balusters support the roof over the inset verandah. Fretwork brackets are of a very simple design. An extension to the rear has a balcony above.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
Francis Henry Ross (1867-1952) was the grandson of prominent early Victoria pioneers Charles and Isabella (Mainville) Ross (see 1490 Fairfield Rd, Fairfield). Frank was born at the family farmhouse to Alexander Ross (c.1834-1876) and Mary Ann Bastian (1850-1888). Mary Ann was born at Fort Nisqually, WA, to Rose, of the Nisqually tribe and Issac Henri Bastian, who was French Canadian Métis. After her mother died, her father re-married. (During the late 1850s, the Nisqually tribe was decimated by disease and starvation.) About 1859, Mary Ann came to Victoria as a ward of Rev Edward and Mary Cridge. Mary Ann married horse dealer James Lascelles (c.1843-1892) in 1880, but died of tuberculosis eight years later.
Frank was a painter and interior decorator. He and his wife Mary Bertha (Zender, 1887-1961) lived here until c.1902, when they moved to 166 Eberts. They also built 1401 May St on the back of that property in 1911.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
The next owners of this house were Edwin Alison (c.1861-1932) and Jessie (Irvine, 1864-1938) Carlow, who lived here c.1904-10. Edwin was a shoemaker, born in New Brunswick who came to Victoria in the late 1870s. In 1882 he married Jessie Irvine, daughter of pioneers Robert Irvine and Agnes White, and granddaughter of Jessie and John Irvine, who arrived in Victoria on the Tory in 1851, and after working at Craigflower Farm, established Rose Bank Farm in Gordon Head, Saanich, in 1862.
Charles Edward Dalton (1852-1933), a contractor, began paying taxes on this property in 1910 and was living here with his family in 1911, but then rented it out. He owned the house until about 1918, then moved to Port Angeles, WA. Born in London, England, Charles married Sarah Amelia Wright in 1877. They moved to the US in 1891 and first resided in St. Paul, MN, and came to Canada in 1900.
In 1912 labourers Henry and Ramie Vemmele were living here. Edmund and Harriet Sturgeon bought this house in 1914 and Harriet operated the Ross Bay Grocery here until about 1926, but they lived here until 1931. Edmund worked for the BC Government.
The next owners were George Platter Davy (1888-1968) and Agnes Martin (Mitchell, 1895-1971) “Daisy” Laflin, who lived here until the mid-1940s. George was a Victoria fireman, born in London, England, who came here in 1912. Daisy was a nurse born in Scotland. She married George soon after her arrival here in 1922.
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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