ARCHITECTURE:
This is a front-gabled, cross-axial, symmetrical, Chalet-style house. It has a centrally-located sleeping porch with balcony above an inset front porch. Ornate sandwich brackets support the gabled eaves. Classical reverse curved brackets flank the low stone stair parapet
forming the balustrade of the stone steps leading to the porch. A pair of double Tuscan columns flank the panelled entrance. There are dogtooth shingles in the gables and the main floor is brick above a cut granite foundation. A high stone water table below the windows surrounds the house. This home’s design appears influenced by the work of Samuel Maclure, with whom Dinsdale is known to have
worked.* *Info from Jim Wolf
The plumbing record only dates from 1937, when the owner was retired electrical contractor Thomas William Cullum Hawkins (b. Cornwall, ENG 1877-1957), formerly president of Hawkins & Hayward Ltd, who lived at 113 Gorge Rd, his wife’s Norris family home
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1902-19: Robert and Annie Dinsdale moved to 3012 Quadra St when construction was complete.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1921-31: Alexander McLeod Florence (b. Lossiemouth, SCT 1895-1950) lived here with his widowed mother, Mary Ann (née Brander b. Drainie, Elgins, SCT 1862-1937) [her husband Thomas Florence (b. Peterhead, ABD, SCT 1852-1906) died in SCT.] Alex married widow Jemima Ure Russell Houston (née Dick, b. SCT c.1891-1966) in Esquimalt in 1927 and moved to 340 Bay St. Mary Ann then became head of house at 3020 Quadra. MA’s son George Reid (b. SCT 1888-1958) and daughter Desma (b. SCT 1887-1954) lived with her. George ran Florence’s Hygienic Bakery at 247 Cook St, and Alex was a baker with him. In 1927 Desma married their lodger William MacKeen (b. QC 1898-?), a driver for Economy Steam Laundry, and they continued to live with her mother. Alexander served with the 13th Btn Black Watch, CEF for three years during WWI. He was a yard foreman at VMD for about 20 years.
1932-34: Sidney Gower Gurney (b. Kingston, ENG 1892-1981) and Madeleine Anne (née Strang, b. SCT 1894-1974). Sidney served for four years in India during WWI. They came here in 1926 and Sidney joined BC Electric, then BC Hydro. He was a member of Arion Male
Voice Choir and First United Church Choir. Madeleine was a member of the Schubert Club and The Georgian Choristers.
1935-40: Clyde Gillies (b. Edmonton, AB 1909-1970) and Elizabeth (née Heal) married in 1935 but later divorced. He ran a vocational advisory service.
1942-46: William James Beeston (b. Southport, ENG 1885-1974) came here in 1911 and in 1914 married Maggie (née Abercrombie, b. Glasgow, SCT, 1886-1955). A long-time employee of Canada Post, William married widow Doris Gwendolyn Flint (b. Wylye, Wilts, ENG 1899-1979) after Maggie’s death.
1953-55: Moore Whittington millwright John Alexander Muckle/Meikle (b. Rousseau, ON 1882-1971) and Harriett Louisa (née Dodd, b. Gravenhurst, ON 1882-1976) married in Muskoka, ON in 1902.