ARCHITECTURE:
Realtor S.C. Calvert built the twin Edwardian Four-Square two-storey houses at 1030 and 1034 Princess Av in 1911 for $1,950 each, using the same plans. Today they remain almost identical. Modest homes, they have some Arts & Crafts details. Number 1030 has more art-glass windows than 1034, and has the side-facing front steps shown on original plans. Both have bellcast hipped roofs with wide soffits and modillions and a central, corbelled chimney. A two-storey cantelevered bay with pedimented gable is on the left side of 1030 and on the right side of 1034. These bays are rectangular on the upper level and angled on the main floor. Each house has a full-width front verandah with shallow hipped roof and square, chamfered posts in clusters. The balustrades are a mix of solid cladding and shaped spindles. 1030 has an offset entry to the right and angled bay to the left; 1034 has the reverse. The bays have leaded glass in the central upper panel. Piano windows on the left side of 1030 and right side of 1034 contain art glass. The exteriors are clad in double-bevelled siding.
These two houses are similar to the pair at 1054 and 1060 Burdett Av, built in 1910 by Elijah Anderson, and to 327 Simcoe St. The latter is part of a threesome, including 329 and 333 Simcoe St built in 1911-12 by James Atkins from designs by architect C. Elwood Watkins.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1911-29: Robert Rutley (b. Portsmouth, Hants, ENG 1860-1931) and Laura (née Wonson, b. Bradninch, Devon, ENG 1864-1920) came here in 1911. Robert, a tailor specializing in women’s clothes, was killed by a bicyclist on Quadra St in Saanich in 1931.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1921-29: Drake Hardware Co salesman William Henry Smith (b. London, ENG 1878-1975) married Edith Laura (née Rutley b. Tunbridge Wells, Kent, ENG 1886-1974) soon after his arrival in 1912. They lived at 1024 Princess, then with her father after her mother’s death.
1930-33: Accountant Walter Flindell (b. London, ENG 1881-1960), who immigrated in 1900, married Fannie Elizabeth (née Wheeler, b. ENG 1881-1969) newly arrived in Vancouver in 1907. They moved here by 1909.
1934-37: BCCSS blacksmith Alfred James Strickland (b. NL 1875-1958) and Alice Adelia (née Garcin, b. NL 1881-1944) came here in 1914.
1939-49: Jen Jensen Overgaard (b. DEN 1869-1952) married Eliza Matilda Emily (née Major, 1867-1962) in England. They immigrated in 1911, living for 20 years in SK where he was a govt stationary engineer. They retired here in 1936.
1950-64: Edward Oscar Morris (b. Cheshire, ENG 1879-1964) came here in 1910 and married Agnes Wallace (née Hodson, b. Lanark, SCT 1880-1967) shortly after her arrival in 1918. Edward was a retired CPR steward.