ARCHITECTURE:
It is somewhat difficult to visualize the original Homestead style of this 1½-storey, wood-framed house, behind its modern makeover. The ornamental semicircular window on the upper left front above the entry, has been modernized. There is now a wide, full-width shed roof separating the two floors. All the windows have been replaced with modern material. A raised deck replaces the original front garden. One wall is stuccoed, the rest has had bevelled siding since the 1970s. The front-gabled roof has a corbelled chimney.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1889-91: Bornstein’s hides and skins clerk, examiner, then buyer Henry Thomas (b. Camborne, Corn, ENG 1857-1895).
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1892: BCER fireman Eugene Condron (b. Queenstown, IRL 1865-1897) and Clara Belle (née Hague, b. MO, USA 1871 ) (132 South Turner St). In 1901 she married John Minto.
1894: Brothers William Randall, blacksmith and David Randall, tailor.
1896-1901: Salvation Army officer Mark Ayre (b. Okehampton, Devon, ENG 1858-1929).
1901-04: Shipwright John James Gillis (b. N Sydney, NS 1858-?) and Lotta (b. NS 1875-?); he worked at Turpin’s Shipyard. 1905: Musician Henry C. Nicking (1867-1938).
1906-43: Thomas Luscombe (b. Yatton,Som, ENG 1840-1918) married Charlotte Grace Leslie (née Turner, b.1848-1937) in Montréal in 1870. A clothier cutter, he worked 34 years in Montréal and Toronto, then worked here as an Agent for Golden Yeast Co. He was a veteran of the Fenian Raids. Daughter Anne Curtiss Luscombe (b. Montréal 1872-1955) remained in the house until 1943.
1944-45: Logger then carpenter Charles George Ballard (b. Hastings, ENG 1913-1989) and Valerie Wilma (née Bertram,Cumberland, BC 1915-1998).
1948-52: Douglas Hotel Restaurant waitress Mrs. Violet Godfrey.
1953-54: HBC packer Miss Margaret Dickinson.