ARCHITECTURE:
This one-storey, Queen Anne Cottage has a low-pitched, gable-on-hip roof with a small shed-roofed dormer to the left of the shallow front gable; the gable has a floral decoration and fretwork bargeboards. There is a long, wide, hip-roofed extension on the rear and a flat-roofed addition on the right side of the house. On the front façade, to the right of an angled bay, is a gabled extension with a bracketed, angled, oriel bay beneath the jettied gable. The gable is stuccoed with intricate half-timbering and bargeboards with fretwork. The shallow-hip-roofed verandah is attached to the face of the gabled extension, and wraps around on the left to just beyond the entrance stairway. The highly-decorated stairway leads to the verandah with its elaborately carved and bracketed square posts and square balusters. The house is clad in drop siding, the brick chimneys are corbelled and all gables have finials. Stucco, which covered the house for many years, was removed when the house was raised in the late 1980s to create a basement. The house cost $3,500 to build, and is now a B&B.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1892-1912: Henry “Harry” Beynon Young (b. Victoria c.1867-1964) and Stella (née Garretson, Sherman, b. BC 1873-1963) married in Tacoma, WA, in 1892; Harry purchased this property as a wedding gift for Stella. Harry’s father, Henry Young Sr. (b. ENG c.1836-1917), came here from England in 1852 and married Matilda Beynon (b. WAL c.1833-1919). She emigrated with a missionary group under Bishop Cridge (238 Government St, pg 8), intending to work on the Queen Charlotte Islands (now Haida Gwaii). Henry established a dry goods store, the White House on View St, which catered to women. His sons Harry and William Llewellyn joined the family business. In 1910, a fire that started at Spencer’s store destroyed Young’s store and the rest of the Five Sisters Block; the Youngs never rebuilt. Henry Sr. left for California with Matilda, Harry and Stella in 1912. He died in Long Beach, CA, and Matilda returned to Victoria. Stella and Harry died at San Mateo, CA.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1913-18: Caroline “Carrie” (née Pratt, b. Fenton, IL c.1860-1937), widow of John Carthew (b. NS c.1858-1914), came here in 1884, and married John in 1888. He died in Prince Rupert.
1921-25: Chartres George Cunningham (c.1865-1935) and Agnes (née Lindsay, c.1868-1954), born in Ottawa, lived in Calgary, where he was proprietor of Cunningham Electric. They came to Victoria in 1921, then opened the Log Cabin Service Station at Elk Lake (the log cabin still exists behind the Cunningham garage on Pat Bay Highway).
224: 1928-45: Lina Coleman Strachan (b. Stainer, ON c.1865-1948), widow of J.M., duplexed it in 1930-31 and rented half.
224½: 1931-c.33: Hugh Pratt (b. India c.1891-1970) and Mona (née Weston, b. Langley, BC c.1921-1979) came to Victoria in 1905. Hugh was a clerk, and from 1920 until his retirement in 1950 he was a federal government accountant. Mona died in New Westminster.
1934-36: Sarah Fanny Hopkins (née Farrell, b. ENG 1847-1944), widow of George.
1937-47: Retiree Millicent Day (b. Lanarkshire, SCT c.1874-1957) came to Canada in 1912, Victoria in 1937. Millicent was a nursing sister during WWI, serving in England, France and Belgium.
224: 1946-49: Rev. Arthur Edgar Balfour Bruce (b. London, ENG c.1875-1949) and Frances Amanda (née Coleman) married in Trail, BC, in 1906. Arthur was privately educated for the ministry. He was ordained in Duluth and served with the Episcopal Church. In 1901 he came to All Saints’ Church in Winnipeg, MB, then to Toronto. He later did mission work until his retirement in 1931.
1950-80s: Retirees Charles Alfred Kelsey (b. Minster, ENG c.1882-1969) and Amy Grace (née Birch, b. Worcester, ENG 1892-1986). Charles came to Canada in 1911, to BC in 1920. They farmed for 40 years, and Amy won awards at farm fairs from the early 1920s. Mainly known for her award-winning grains, she also raised angora rabbits. In 1946 she became the first woman to be crowned “Wheat Queen,” for her wheat grown on the family farm near Creston, BC. She won the world title in 1947 at the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto. Charles and Amy retired in 1949 and moved to James Bay. Amy lived in this house until shortly before her death.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:
• This Old House, Victoria’s Heritage Neighbourhoods,
Volume Two: James Bay
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