ARCHITECTURE:
968 and 1005 Balmoral Rd dominate this intersection with their complementary Queen Anne details and contrasting materials. This is a two-storey brick house with a steeply-pitched, gable-on-hip roof. On the front façade, an angled bay rises a full 2½ storeys, climaxing in a through-the-cornice gabled dormer. The corbelled dormer has wooden sunburst brackets on either side of a multi-paned window. The front entry porch has a steeply gabled roof supported on four turned posts and two pilasters; the starburst motif is repeated in the gable. The right side of the house has a 2½ storey gabled extension with a round-arched window in the corbelled gable. To the right is another gabled entry, which is recessed, and is the main business entry. There are stained glass windows in the gables and the front door. There are two corbelled chimneys. The brickwork on 968 and another Baker house, 714 Discovery St, Burnside, were the Bakers’ billboards, demonstrating the prowess of the highly successful Baker Brickworks. Examples of the Queen Anne style in brick are rare in Victoria.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
Owners: 1893-1916+: John Baker (b. London, ON 1851-1911) and James Baker (b. London, ON 1854-1929; 714 Discovery St) were owners of this rental property until at least 1916. They came here with their family c.1866 and in 1891 established Baker Bros brickyard where Mayfair Mall now stands. John later owned and managed Victoria Ice Co. James lived for many years at 713 Pembroke St (demo’d) and bachelor John boarded with him. Eldest brother Michael Baker (b. Detroit, MI 1839-1905) married Johannah (née Hatch, 1841-1908) in 1862. They lived in a wooden house at 954 Balmoral Rd ex-30 Frederick St from 1876 until their deaths; parents Richard Baker (b. Dublin, IRL 1819-1886) and Mary (née Jennings, b. Cork, IRL 1819-1887) lived with them. Michael had trained in furniture manufacturing. Here he became a building contractor, then a supervising engineer with HBC. He constructed many of the original wharves that lined the Inner Harbour. In 1875, he went into the grain business with his father as R. Baker & Son and was a founding member of BC Agricultural Commission.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
Tenants: 1895: William MacHaffie (b. SCT 1836-1918) and Louise (née McMonies, b. Wentworth, ON 1840-1927). He worked for Robert T. Williams, bookbinders and printers, that produced BC Directories.
1897-1908: Samuel Nish Reid (b. SCT 1859-1943) came to Canada c.1876 and married Barbara (née Wilson, b. BC 1869-1932) in 1894. He was mgr and sec-treas of S. Reid & Co, clothing and furnishing store, then an immigration agent. Barbara went missing from their Alkazar Mansions home 12 Feb and her body was found in the Gorge in March.
1909: Wilson Bros driver Alexander R. MacDonald.
1910-15: Brackman-Ker Milling Co grain sacker George Clinton Heller (b. Wingap, PA, USA 1864-1939) came here in 1885 with first wife, Mary Rose (née Bruno, b. Geneva, SWZ 1861-1901). She ran a dressmaking business above Spencer’s Arcade. He married Mary “May” Smith (b. NFL 1880-1941) in 1901 when he was a bartender at Ship Inn Saloon.
1917: Lt-Cpl Thomas Christopher Humphries, CEF (b. London, ENG 1876-1946) enlisted in 1915 and left with 1st Pioneer Btn, CEF while wife Louisa and son Thomas C. lived here. He was a bricklayer and cook.
1918-25: Thomas Hall (b. ENG 1884-1956) and Florence (née Orrick, b. ENG 1887-1969) came to Canada in 1912. He worked for City Police for 32 years as a jailer, then desk sergeant. He was an honorary member of Sons of England. They lived at 925 Balmoral Rd for many years.
1927: Percy and Vanda Huddlestone, retired, lived in 1217 Yukon St from 1935-59.
1928-30: Capt. Sarah Elizabeth MacGregor, Salvation Army (née Branigan, b. ON 1870-1946), widow of John Leslie MacGregor (1870-1922), whom she married in 1906.
1931-32: Carpenter and Popular Cafe employee Francis Samuel “Sam” Dearborn (b. ON 1872-1944) and Mary Jane “Jennie” (née Cumming, b. Langton, ON 1870-1953).
1933-35: Pipefitter James Allen and wife Elizabeth.
1937-55: Alfred James Pratt (b. ENG 1873-1953) and Alice (née Hornett, b. ENG 1878-1963) came to Canada in 1901 and farmed in Esther, AB, before retiring here in 1936.
A rooming house for many years, it narrowly missed redevelopment. It was saved and rehabilitated in 1981-82 by Barney Bethune Hagar (b. Strawberry Vale, Saanich, BC 1920-2000) and his wife Joanna (née Rindal) as a home for themselves and their antiquarian bookshop, Poor Richard’s Books. They received a 1983 Hallmark Society Award for their superb restoration. Barney was a Knight Commander of Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem, a Catholic Military order founded during the Crusades.