ARCHITECTURE:
This Vernacular Queen Anne was a dominant feature at the corner of Pandora and Fernwood. It is a gable-roofed, L-shaped house with a shed-roofed extension on the rear. There is a through-the-roof wall dormer on the front right above a hip-roofed verandah, which is located to the right and behind the entry porch. A small door, with a round-arched double window, on the left side gives entry to this verandah, which has a sawn balustrade. The porch, which has a small, flat hipped roof, has square turned, fluted posts and pilaster, with sawn brackets and frieze. The panelled front door has side lights. To the left is a 1½ storey gabled wing with a flat, hip-roofed square bay at ground level. There are brackets in the eaves and panels below the windows. The house has drop siding, a fieldstone foundation, and two brick chimneys.The property was subdivided in 1906; the house was duplexed in 1948, and now has six suites.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1883-1918: Joseph Hugh MacLaughlin (b. Dublin, IRL, 1843-1907) and Rebecca Jane (née Wilson, b. Sligo, IRL, 1844-1912) emigrated to Canada in the 1860s. They lived in Halifax, NS, where their children were born, then came to Victoria c.1881. Joseph was a teacher, then manager of a sawmill. At his death, he was Assistant Receiver-General for BC. They belonged to Christ Church Cathedral and were buried in the family vault at Ross Bay Cemetery. Their offspring: Thomas Spears married Margaret Burke in 1893 and in 1910 they had Samuel Maclure design the house at 112 Clarence St in James Bay where they lived until Tom’s death; from 1914-31 Tom was a head purser on the CPR’s Princess Line ships between Victoria, Vancouver and Seattle. Joseph Hugh Jr died aged 12 of heart disease in 1881. Hilda was living at 112 Clarence St with her brother Tom when he died. William Burrows MacLaughlin (1867-1922) was for 25 years chief clerk in the Department of Indian Affairs, retiring in 1912. He lived in the house as a bachelor until 1918, but died in Prince Rupert. His funeral was held in Victoria at Christ Church, and he was interred in the family vault.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1919-20: Carpenter Timothy Dundas and Robena Hope Pattison had the house connected to sewer in 1919. They came to BC c.1913, and later farmed in Langley, BC.
1921-29: David Moore McCall (b. Walton, ON, 1881-1955) and Maybelle Mae (née Graham, b. South Mountain, ON, 1885-1969). David and his brother James Milton McCall founded the prominent local firm, McCall Bros Funeral Directors in 1921; the firm is still family-owned in 2012. The brothers were born in Walton, ON, (where previous owner T.D. Pattison was born) to Irish parents, and together came to Victoria in 1921 via Calgary and Edmonton. David and Maybelle lived at 534 Trutch St, Fairfield, from 1933-39. David’s sister Emma Sophia McCall lived with them from 1925 until her death. The McCall brothers died a month apart in 1955.
1931-35: Fisherman John B. Wilneff (b. Lunenburg, NS, 1879-1946) and Mary U. Wilneff.
1936-41: Thomas Yates Baldwin (b. Banbury, Oxon, ENG, 1898-1986) and Elizabeth Alice (née Smith, b. Darwin, Lancs, ENG, 1901-1982) were married in Garden City (now the Marigold district), Saanich, BC, in 1921. Thomas was a stationary engineer, first at Sidney Roofing Co for 26 years until the company transferred to Vancouver during WWII, then at Yarrows for the duration of the war, and at the new post office (now P.L. James Place at Government and Yates Sts, downtown). He then worked at Buckerfields until retiring in his late 70s. Thomas was a member of AF&AM. He and Elizabeth were both members of OES No.17 and the Order of the Amaranth.
1942: Painter and decorator Peter Edward and Edith Louise Mickelson, and their daughters: Pearl E, the proprietor of Primrose Beauty Shop at 620 View St; Cora L, a hairdresser at the Primrose BS; Ivy M, a furrier; and Edna V, a nurse.
1943-50: Wilhelm Nieuwejaar (1894-1964) and Sigrid (née Wiese-Ulvig, 1897-1981) were born in Bergen, Norway, and came to Canada in 1926. Wilhelm, a pipe fitter, worked at VMD during WWII. They moved to Youbou, BC, and Wilhelm worked for BC Forest Products until retiring in 1959.
1951-55: Stewart C. and Pearl E. Cameron; Stewart was a salesman with “Mc & Mc,” McLennan McFeely & Prior, 1400 Government St.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:
• This Old House, Victoria’s Heritage Neighbourhoods,
Volume One: Fernwood & Victoria West