ARCHITECTURE:
This is a symmetrical, two-storey, front-gabled duplex with two matching, engaged lower gables over the entrance porch and a cantilevered box bay. Front-facing stairs with metal rails lead to the recessed porch, which gives access to two entry doors. The pair of matching wooden doors have three inset, narrow, vertical lights above a ledge supported on three chunky brackets. The porch roof is supported by pairs of square posts on large battered, stuccoed piers which sit on the ground. There is a small, multi-paned window in the apex of the gable, and two paired windows below the string course on the upper floor. Craftsman-style triangular knee brackets decorate the gables at the apex and toward the lower ends of the bargeboards. Other Craftsman-style elements include the doors and open eaves with exposed rafter tails. On the right side towards the front on both levels are pairs of wooden, diamond-paned awning windows. Original siding is covered in asbestos on top and aluminum below. This is an early purpose-built duplex, emblematic of the pent-up demand for rental housing following WWI.
ORIGINAL OWNERS:
Owners: 1921-42: Dressmaker and independent businesswoman Elizabeth Street (b. ON 1864-1933) married grocer/bookkeeper John Gunn (b. Wick, SCT 1863-1931) here in 1891. She developed properties in Victoria and Oak Bay and he, in 1908, built a store and dwelling at the corner of Hillside and Quadra Sts. They had one son, Lafayette Street (b. Victoria 1892-1964), a marine steward with BCCSS who married twice, Thelma Klutz in 1913 then Mildred Irene Atkinson Rutter in 1937.
Selection of Tenants:
1925: Victoria City Dairy driver Reginald Dove and his son Reginald Jewison Dove (b. Raynder, WAL 1906-1975), a draughtsman in architect J.C.M. Keith’s office.
1928: Happy Valley Freight Service manager John Marshall Scoular (b. Midcalder, SCT 1886-1970) and Jemima (née Sutherland, b. SCT 1886-1968).
1929-30: CPO Jonathan Martin Utterbridge, RCN (b. Camb, ENG 1897-1968) and dressmaker and designer Signe Christine (née Sword, b. Smoland, SWE c.1895-?) married here in 1928.
1930-32: Cecil John Freeborn (b. Melita, MB 1896-1966) and Lois Mildred (née Gamey, b. Osprey, ON 1901-1983); Cecil was a student in agriculture when he signed his WWI attestation papers in 1916, later a truck driver and hotel desk clerk.
1933-34: Brothers Francois Dufleit (b. Brittany, FRA 1899-1990) and Pierre Marie Dufleit (b. Brittany, FRA 1904-1977), and their wives Marguerite Marcelle (née Parrot, b. Seloncourt, FRA 1904-1996) and Anne Marie (née Le Solliec 1908-1991) arrived in Canada in 1923.
1935-36: Plasterer Alfred James Ferguson (b. Victoria 1909-?) and Montreal Trust manager Joseph Richard Short (b. Victoria 1904-1971) married the Brown sisters from Liverpool, ENG Jessie (1907-1991) and Ethel (1905-1954).
1938-39: D.J. McLean driver James Robert Warburton (b. Leicester, ENG 1910-1995) married Norah (née Read, b. Ladysmith, BC 1909-1985) in Esquimalt in 1937.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
Owners: 1943-45: Machinist Roy Moir (b. Durham, ENG 1901-1955) married telephone operator Margaret Fleming (née Raeside, b. Glasgow, SCT 1902-1982). They rented to members of the RCN and wives during WWII.