ARCHITECTURE:
Like its neighbour 310, this two-storey Queen Anne house was rehabilitated in the 1970s. It is hip-roofed with a large front-gabled extension. This house is a mirror image of 310 only on its front façade. They differ in detail, and 314 has a round-headed window in its gable. The wide belt course, originally fishscale shingled, is now panelled and clad with diagonal V-joint T&G. The original spindlework frieze and turned balusters were missing on the porch, and as the archival photos of this house had not been found in the 1970s, sawn balusters of the period were substituted. The fretwork brackets and drop finials on the angled bay were also unknown and instead, slender curved brackets were utilized. Like 310, the angled bay is supported on a rectangular base. On the left side of the house, a full-height box bay under an extended shed roof was added in 1911. The small shed-roofed dormer on the left side was replaced with a larger gabled dormer in the 1970s. On the right side under a pedimented gable is another two-storey box bay. There are now fishscale shingles in the front gable, but the body of the house is clad in its original drop siding. Most of the windows are multi-lights-over-one double-hung sashes with horns. The windows in the cutaway corners of the front bay have fixed transoms of Queen Anne glass. The original chimney remains, but it is no longer corbelled.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1890-93: Contractor Eli Beam (b. Welland, ON 1853-1914) lived here until 1893. He married Margaret “Maggie” (née Rock, b Smith Falls, ON 1856-1890) in 1876 and came here in the late 1880s. She died of blood poisoning at 34, signed his property to John Fullerton (310 Huntington). In 1900 he moved to Vancouver and secured a patent for a coping tool with two blades for cutting ends of window frames. He established the Beam Manufacturing Co in 1907.*
* Some research on Eli Beam by Andy Coupland
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1894-1952: Sarah (née Rogerson, b. Perth, ON 1845-1914), widow of Rev. Donald Fraser (b. Lochiel, ON 1844-1891), lived here with her children, Flora (1870-1903), Katherine (1872-1945), Donald Andrew (1875-1948), William, Annie (1881-1894), Hector(1886-1897), and Helen Victoria (1887-1965). Rev. Donald Fraser, Victoria’s first Canadian-born pastor, arrived here in 1884 from Mount Forest, ON, to lead the First Presbyterian Church. He died of pneumonia in 1891 at 47. Flora and Katherine were born in Priceville, ON. Flora taught here until contracting TB. Katherine was a housekeeper for many years and never married, living in this house until her death. Donald Andrew was born in Port Elgin, ON. He was a clerk with Hall & Goepel, then went to Normal School in Vancouver; he taught in Sooke, BC, then in Victoria at North Ward School, Kingston St School, South Park School and the Chinese School shortly before retiring in 1935. Donald was a poet; his book Pebbles and Shells was published in 1943. He was president of Canadian Authors’ Assn of Victoria and Islands for several years.
William Fraser moved to Armstrong, BC, in the early 1900s, established a dental practice and married Ida Schubert in 1908. Back in Victoria William practised until retiring in 1952. He died in Vernon. Helen Fraser was a resident of 1617 Rockland Av when she died. Donald Fraser of 616 Esquimalt Rd was their uncle.
Like 310, the owners won a Hallmark Heritage Society award for their restoration work, in 1985. On this project, Richard Collier and John Keay were joined by Larry Cook and Ken Lane. Richard Collier and John Keay have both continued to be interested in heritage conservation.