ARCHITECTURE:
This is a two-storey, late 19th century, Italianate house featuring a shallow hipped roof with single eave brackets only at the exterior corners. The two floors of the hip-roofed, full-height, rectangular bay on the left front are separated by a shallow hipped roof. The left side of the house has a one-storey, hip-roofed, angled bay towards the rear. All the bays have panels of diagonal V-joint T&G below and between the windows. The details of the front door assembly are well preserved, but there was likely a front porch originally. The rear has a one-storey, gabled extension off-set to the right. The house is clad in drop-siding, the foundation is concrete. .
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
Owner: 1891-1901: Contractor Henry Munday built this house for $2,000 soon after arriving in the city. He married Nora Woodward in 1892 and c.1893 they moved to St. Charles St. Nora came from England in 1890 with her brother, Arthur, and his family. She died in 1935 at 65. Henry was involved in the construction of BC’s Parliament Buildings (501 Belleville St), and built Work Point Barracks, but a smallpox scare suspended his contracting business. He went to the Klondike gold rush, packing food and supplies for miners. Returning to Victoria in 1899 Henry became a shoe merchant, eventually opening four shoe stores, including Munday’s Fine Shoes which nally closed in the 1990s. Henry died in 1954 at 90. (1091 Joan Cr).
Tenant: 1895: James Bay Methodist Church pastor J.D.P. Knox.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
Owners: 1900-35: Samuel Wesley Edwards (b. Kemptville, ON 1857-1925) and Elizabeth (née Cullin, b.Toronto, ON 1862-1943) came here in 1890. He was a carriage painter, then in 1897 became a customs officer, retiring in 1921.
1935-40: In 1930, youngest daughter, NoraKathleen Edwards (b. Victoria 1898-1978), married Edgar “Trevor” Fisher (b. Johannesburg, SA 1906-1946) at Victoria City Temple, where they were members of the Sunday School orchestra. Edgar was a steamship engineer with BCCSS. In 1935, the Fishers bought the house, but
Elizabeth continued to live with them.
1985-present: James Bay United Church purchased this building to house their community thrift shop.