ARCHITECTURE:
This Craftsman Bungalow was built for $2,700 in 1914 at the end of Victoria’s housing boom which collapsed with the onset of World War I. It is side-gabled with a slight curve flowing over the full-width front verandah. The centrally-located dormer above the verandah has three windows; the rear has a smaller dormer. Both dormers are gabled with three chunky knee brackets below bargeboards with clipped ends. On the left side is a cantilevered, shed-roofed box bay below two windows in the gable. To the right of the bay is an external, corbelled brick wall chimney with piano windows on either side. The verandah roof is supported by two heavy arches on each end; a front arch with stepped ends spans its entire width. All arches are supported at the corners on heavy brick piers.The verandah balustrade and the slightly-splayed front step balustrades are of solid brick. All the brickwork uses clinker bricks, a feature of many Craftsman Arts & Crafts houses. Although the steps are centrally-located, the front door and its sidelights are off-set to the right. The piano and hall windows and the sidelights have distinctive leaded art glass. The exterior cladding is shingle on the dormers and basement level, with bevelled siding on the main floor. The round columns are not original and detract from the elegant verandah.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1914-19: Cabinetmaker Charles Cousins (b. Victoria, BC, 1886-1919) married Kate Eleanor (née Simpson, b. London, ENG, 1886-1918) in 1914. He came here in 1887 with parents Leonard and Sarah Cousins; she came to Vancouver in 1901 with her parents, moving here in 1910 where she was employed with various candy companies. In 1909-10 he established Cousins Brothers, sash & door manufacturers on Garbally Rd with brother Leonard (1876-1950); brother Henry Hudson Cousins (1890-1952) worked for the firm. In 1912 they purchased land from Drake Hardware Co and expanded the business. In 1918 the company was taken over by Hutchison Brothers and was later known as Canadian Western Woodworkers Ltd. Charles was actively involved in North Ward Athletic Assoc. In 1918 he and Kate spent the summer in the Yukon where he installed sashes and doors on sternwheelers. They were to return in October on SS Princess Sophia, but at the last minute he was detained while she went ahead. The boat ran aground on Vanderbilt Reef in Lynn Canal near Juneau, AK, and all 343 persons on board were lost in the worst maritime disaster in BC and AK history. Charles spent eight days searching for her body but it was never recovered. He died two months later in the house at the age of 33, a victim of pneumonia from the Spanish Influenza epidemic. Executors sold the household furniture and effects at auction in the house July 3, 1919 after which it stood vacant.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1923-35: William Brown Bruce (b. Dumbarton, SCT, 1891-1940) married Mabel Grace (née Waring, b. Victoria, 1896-1964) in 1913 at Breadalbane (1177 Fort St, Rockland), Rev. Campbell officiating. Her parents, stationary engineer William Waring (1869-1925) and Mary Jane Bennett (1871-1938) both came from England and married here in 1890. In 1910 the family was living on a farm near Red Deer, AB; however, Mabel was back in Victoria in 1912 working as a laundress for Standard Laundry. William’s family came to Canada in 1895. William apprenticed in plumbing with Andrew Sheret in 1909. He later worked for Dominion Plumbing & Heating Co, eventually buying the business. His father was company pres. until retiring in 1941. His father and two brothers lived at 3140 with William and Mabel Bruce and daughter Hazel Grace for a few years. Charles Bruce married Mary Jane Bennett Waring in 1930 and after her death, he and Mabel, now widowed, lived in View Royal.
1936-38: Charles Albert Jones (b. Muskoka, ON 1878-1955) and Catherine May (née McNeil, b. Bruce Co, ON 1877-1960), owners of Economy Steam Laundry at 607 John St.
1939: Master Plasterers’ Assoc member Henry David Pottinger (b. Victoria 1895-1982) married Clara Emily (née Humber, b. Victoria 1899-1975) in Alameda, CA, USA in 1921 (602 Gorge Rd E, Burnside). He joined the CEF in Esquimalt in 1915 and served with No. 5 General Hospital in Salonica, Turkey in WWI for two years.
1940: Oak Bay Chimney Sweep prop Joseph Henry Kerr Veitch (b. Victoria 1895-1968) and second wife Hilda Beryl Taylor married in Victoria. His first wife Lillian Hinchcliff died at Tranquille Sanatorium, BC in 1935.
1941-45: George Harrison Millard (b. Courtenay, BC, 1900-1988) married Isabel Catherine (née MacMillan, b. Nanaimo, BC, 1904-1980) in Nanaimo in 1925. They met in Bevan, BC, Cumberland’s No.8 coal mine. George was a log scaler before becoming a Pacific Lumber Inspection Bureau inspector; he retired as an inspector of dam sites.
1946-66: Siblings Marie (b. Callan, IRL, 1879-1964), William Henry (b. IRL, 1880-1966) and Susan Margaret (b. Callan, IRL, 1883-1956) Mercier. He came to Canada in 1904 and found work in the shipyards. His sisters came in 1912; both worked for 31 years as storekeepers at Marie Mercier Confectionery, 2807 Cedar Hill Rd, retiring in 1945.