1030 Princess Avenue

ARCHITECTURE:

Realtor S.C. Calvert built the twin Edwardian Four-Square 2-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 in the windows than its sister, and has the side-facing front steps that show on the original plans.

Each house has a hipped bellcast roof with wide soffits and modillions and a central, corbelled chimney, serving a corner fireplace in the parlor. Double-beveled siding covers the exterior, and windows are one-over-one sashes. A 2-storey bay with bellcast gable dominates one side of the house, comprising a box bay on the upper level, over a cutaway octagonal bay on the main floor.

Both houses have a full-width front porch with hipped roof and square, chamfered columns in three clusters of three dominates the front façades. 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 an offset entry to the left and angled bay to the right.The bays have original leaded glass in the central upper panel. Piano windows on the left side of 1030 and the right side of 1034 contain art glass. The exteriors are clad in double-bevelled siding. This charmingly intact block of> Princess St was largely developed during the boom years of 1909-11, as Downtown Victoria expanded outwards; it still presents a fine streetscape.

These two houses are quite similar to the pair at 1054 and 1060 Burdett Av, Fairfield, built in 1910 by Elijah Anderson, and to 327 Simcoe St, James Bay. 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:

First owners Robert (1860-1931) and Laura (Wouson, 1864-1920) Rutley lived here until the early 1920s. The Rutleys came to Victoria from Devonshire, England in 1911. Robert was a tailor, specializing in women’s clothes, with a business at 625 Fort St. He left this house shortly after Laura died in 1920. Robert was killed by a bicyclist on Quadra St in Saanich in 1931.

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

Many families occupied this house over the next 30 years. William H. Smith, an HBC clerk, later a salesman at the Drake Hardware Co, lived here in the 1920s. Walter (1881-1960) and Fannie Elizabeth (1881-1969) Flindell were living here by 1931. Walter was born in London, England and came to BC in 1900. He married Fannie Wheeler who had just arrived from England in 1907 in Vancouver and they moved to Victoria by 1909. Walter was an accountant until retiring in 1946.

Alfred James (1875-1958) and Alice Adelia (Garcin, 1881-1944) Strickland were renting by 1935. Alfred was a BCCSS blacksmith. The Stricklands came to Victoria from Newfoundland in 1914. Owners Jen Jensen (1869-1952) and Eliza Matilda Emily (Major, 1867-1962) Overgaard were here from the late-1930s until the late-1940s. Jen was born in Denmark and lived in England, where he met and married Eliza. The Overgaards came to Canada in 1911, and lived in Saskatchewan for over 20 years, where Jen was a stationary engineer for the Provincial Government. They came to Victoria to retire in 1936.

By 1951, retirees Edward Oscar (1879-1964) and Agnes Wallace (Hodgson) Morris were the owners and occupants. Born in Cheshire, England, Edward came to the Victoria area in 1910. Agnes came to Victoria from Lanark, Scotland in 1918, and married Edward soon after. Edward was a CPR steward for many years. Agnes left this house shortly after Edward’s death in 1964.