ARCHITECTURE:
The entrance of this two-storey, flat-roofed brick commercial building is offset to the left. The door and large single-pane windows on either side are tied together by a moulded sheet metal header. The upper storey has five segmentally-arched, multi-paned, double-hung sash windows. The upper part of the façade is defined by a band of corbelled brick perhaps originally capped by a sheet metal cornice. The left side of Pembroke façade has several windows with concrete lintels; the right side retains segmentally arched, multi-paned, double-hung sashes. There are three large doors on this façade. In 1898 builders William Henry Luney and George Wood had their shop on this property.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
Owner: 1909-30: Patrick William Dempster (b. Campbelltown, ON 1857-1933; 101 Oswego St, James Bay) built this as a 4-room carriage and blacksmith shop for $3,500. He came here in 1887 and established Dempster, Beek & Co, Carriage & Wagon Building at Broughton and Gordon Sts. He partnered with Thomas McLaughlin before establishing Central Carriage Works at 642 Johnson St. He moved to 660 Pembroke briefly, then to 611 Dupplin Rd, Saanich. After WWI, he went into auto repair, then with son John “Jack” Thomas (b. Hamilton, ON 1882-1951) in Dempster’s Tourist Garage (1703 Blanshard St). Dempster was on Saanich Police Board, and a member of IOOF and AF&AM.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1920-24 / 1926-30: vacant
1925: Douglas Motor Co, James Primrose (b. Glasgow, SCT 1884-1949), mgr, auto engineers, and Douglas Auto & Truck Painters, Walter Gale.
1931-41: Cowichan Creamery Traders, salesman Harold G. Morgan.
1939-46: Buckerfield’s Flour & Feed, branch mgr James Henderson; it then moved to 2105 Douglas St.
1943-47: Maple Leaf Milling Co, mgr Cyril Dudley Peart (b. Dublin, IRL 1898-1985); a manually operated grain elevator remains in the building, the last one in Western Canada.
Owner: 1949-c.60: VI Hardwood Floor Co, then VI Floor Centre, mgr Albert Henry Davies (b. Durham, ENG 1894-1960). Tenants: 1949-53: Asbestos Building Materials, VI distributors for Canadian Johns Manville products, mgr Albert Henry Davies.
1951-54: Brock Elmer Robertson (b. Victoria, 1912-1986), Roofing & Insulation. After several short-term tenants:
1965-69: Victoria Glass Co, pres William Andrew Usborne (b. ON 1920-1993).
1970s-90s: William Hastings, Hastings Vacuum & Appliances Service, office and warehouse for several decades.
2004: Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore.
2010: Purchased by Don Russell and restored for Russell Food Equipment’s parts and repairs service department.