ARCHITECTURE:
This two-storey, front-gabled, Vernacular-style house is one of a set of four similar houses in a row, one now demolished. There is a hip-roofed, angled bay with panels on the main floor to the right of the hip-roofed entry porch. The porch has brackets, chamfered posts, square balusters and panels in the frieze; the door has its original transom and side-lights. The string course and frieze in the front gable create the appearance of a pediment. The gable has fish-scale and square-butt shingles. The main house is clad in drop siding, and stuccoed on the L side. 1885 assessments value the house at $1,250.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1885-87: Accountant William Henry Brooks (c.1841-1916) and Emily Brock (née Pillar, b. Devonport, ENG 1848-1887) arrived in 1877. He was involved in local politics serving as a returning officer for many municipal elections. The family home on Frederick St was lost to fire in 1885 and they moved here. Emily died of TB.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1888-1901: Phillip Judah Davies (b. San Francisco 1854-1943) married Estelle Vivian (née Isaacs, 1866-1930) in San Francisco in 1891. They paid property taxes but didn’t live here until 1893. He came here in 1863 on SS Sierra Nevada. He was an auctioneer, a general labourer and a gardener. He was a member of Court Vancouver AOF.
Tenants: 1890-91: Boot and shoemaker David Jenkins (b. WAL 1835-1904) married Margaret (née Townsend, b. Neath, WAL 1843-1923) in 1879; they moved here in 1882. Margaret, a teacher, was previously married to Jonas Fox in Coquimbo, Chile; he died in 1876 and they had four children. Widower Jenkins had nine and he and Margaret had three more; six of the 16 died of diphtheria. She was active in women’s groups: Conservative Club, Canadian Club, Local Council of Women and a founding member of Women’s Christian Temperance Union in 1883. Elected school trustee in 1897, she served from 1902-19, promoting many educational programs, including domestic science [home ec]. In 1914 the school board named Margaret Jenkins School at 1824 Fairfield Rd in her honour.
Owners: 1902-06: George Henry Hall (b Westholme, Vancouver Island, 1877-1946) and Maude Lucille (née< Crowe, b. Oakland, CA 1882-1961) married in 1902. George came to Victoria as a boy. He was a wholesale dry-goods merchant; for years he worked with Piercy & Co, then Turner Beeton & Co. He bought that firm in the 1930s, renamed it Hall & Co in 1939, and retired in 1945. The Halls then lived at 1702 Stanley Av.
1907-20: Philip John Jeune (b. Jersey, UK 1865-1957) and Agnes Esther (née Touet, b. Québec 1867-1965) married in 1891. Philip came to Victoria that year. Agnes’s parents were also from Jersey. Philip and his brother Fred operated the Pandora Sail & Tent Factory (1407 Government St, 568 & 570 Johnson St, Downtown) for many years. He retired in 1920, and they farmed in Saanichton.
1921-29, 32: Thomas Henry “Harry” Maynard (b. Kent, ENG 1865-1939) and Eliza Anthony “Lily” (née Teague, b. Cornwall, ENG 1867-1929) were Methodist Salvation Army missionaries when they met on a boat to India. They married in India in 1886, and converted to the Plymouth Brethren faith in 1893. They immigrated to Victoria in 1912.
Tenant: 1930: Carpet cleaner Loxley H. Howson. A rear suite was then added.
1933-35: Sidney Roofing employee Arthur A. and Margaret Coates.
1935-36: In the rear suite, the Maynards’ daughter Edith Joyce (1905-1949), a correspondence instructor, then a student at Victoria College.
1937: Frederick Walter Barber (b. Blackheath, ENG 1891-1961) came to Canada in 1911 and married Hetty Rebecca Dawson in 1914. She died at 26 in 1918 of “Spanish” Flu while he was over-seas with 16th Btn (Canadian Scottish) CEF, 1917-19. He married Jenny Louise (née Rees, b. Wales 1902-1984) in 1922. Five of their sons served with the Regiment in WWII.
1938-42: Japanese fisherman Kunizo Uyede and Matsu (née Nakagawa) married here in 1912. Listed as “Orientals” in 1942, they were sent to internment camps in the interior, and their property was confiscated.
Owners: 1943-46, 51-53: George Taylor (b. Aberdeenshire, SCT 1886-1944) and Margaret Helena (née> Dane, b. Fermanagh, IRL 1881-1955) came to BC in 1917. George was a watchman. Margaret lived here on and off after his death.
Tenants: 1947: James and Edna McPherson; James worked at HMC Dockyard. 1948-49: Mrs. Marion Reid.
1950: Erling Senem, carpenter.
1947-51: Tip Top Coffee Shop waitress Mrs. Rose M. Ross.
1952-55: Canadian government helper Arthur Smith.