1525 Amelia Street

ARCHITECTURE:

Like 1521 and 1529, this house is built of brick in the Italianate style. (1523, now gone, was of wood, as was every second house.) And like the other two, it has a 2-storey bay with parged trim. Here, however, the bay is rectangular and there is a dramatic pedimented gable on top, and the bargeboards sport tiny mock keystones. The front door here has no sidelights and the transom is painted over. The door itself is likely 1920s, and all evidence of a porch extension has disappeared, although it may have matched its sisters.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

Thomas and Annie Elizabeth (Smith) Deasy lived here until c.1890 before moving to 1521 Amelia St by 1892. Thomas, born in 1856, came to Victoria from England in 1859 with his father Daniel, a Royal Engineer. Annie arrived here shortly after her birth in 1861. They were married in 1880. Thomas was involved with the Victoria Volunteer Fire Department from 13 as a lantern boy, then a member of the bucket brigade. At 18 he became a regular fireman with the Union Hook and Ladder No.1. When the City took over fire fighting duties and began paying firefighters, Thomas was elected assistant engineer – a position he held for two years. Thomas completed an apprenticeship with the Victoria Daily Colonist in 1871, and became a printer with the Victoria Daily Times. He was elected fire chief by 1890 and served several years. From 1901 to 1910 he worked for the Dominion Police, mostly on the Songhees Reserve. In 1910, he left Victoria for the Queen Charlotte Islands, where he was the Indian Agent for the Haida until he retired in 1924. Annie died seven months after Thomas in 1936.

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

Herbert and Sarah Ann Nicholson lived here from 1890 until c.1893. Herbert, born in Bedford, England, in 1853, came to Canada and lived in Ontario for a period, where he met and married his wife, Sarah Ann Wilson. They came to Victoria in 1889. Herbert, a carpenter, died of pneumonia in 1897. Sarah died in 1940 at 87.

Nurse Julia (Warren) Dorcus (1846-1932), widow of Daniel Sinclair, lived here for several years in the late 1890s, shortly after her arrival from England. By 1901, Joseph Gordon Smith (1874-1951), a journalist with the Victoria Daily Colonist, and his wife Emily Mabel (Gale, 1876-1940), were the residents. Joseph immigrated to Canada from Edinburgh, Scotland, during his teens, and lived in Montreal, where he was educated. He graduated from McGill University, and began a long journalism career at the Montreal Herald, and as a correspondent for the New York Herald. In 1898 Joseph came to Victoria, but found little success in the newspaper business. He studied sculpting under Henry Beaumont, and was hired to carve the rope-like loops on the cornice of the Legislative Buildings (501 Belleville St, James Bay). Joseph got his break in May 1896 during the tragic Point Ellice Bridge collapse, when he wired the story to the New York Herald, bringing him great praise that eventually led to a job at the Victoria Daily Times. He later moved to the Colonist. Victoria was rich in shipping news, and Joseph took advantage of this by freelancing for a string of outside newspapers. Joseph gained a reputation for speed, and, was appointed correspondent during the Russo-Japanese War. His persistence earned him the prestigious Order of the Rising Sun from Prince Nashimoto, when he saved Japanese General Oshima. Joseph turned down a 10-year contract to continue work in this area and returned to the Colonist, where he later became magazine editor. He served overseas during WWI, during which he earned the rank of Major, then joined the BC Government Travel Bureau, where he worked for the next 30 years until retiring.

Henry Reginald (1874-1959) and Margaret (McKenzie, 1870-1946) Bilton lived here c.1905 to 1911. Henry was a master mariner, born in Tasmania, who came to BC in 1890. In 1904 he married Margaret, born in Michigan and resident of Victoria since 1896. Henry completed his officer apprenticeship on board the Thermopylae, and was later a charter member of the Thermopylae Club. He first skippered the Newington, a lighthouse tender, and then spent 20 years as captain of another lighthouse tender, the Estevan. He retired in 1944.

By 1912, teamster Robert Bell was the resident, and by 1914, Alfred Keddy, chief clerk of the King Howard Hotel, was living here. Cirillo Braga (1886-1965), an Italian immigrant employed at Luney Bros, later a bartender for 27 years, lived here in 1917. He married Elizabeth Micona in Kamloops in 1912, but they later divorced. William and Ruth Souden (see 1521 Amelia St) lived here during the 1920s and early 1930s. By 1935 John Quin, a labourer, and his wife, Lee Yee, were the residents. They lived here for 15 years.