ARCHITECTURE:
The house is a modest Craftsman Bungalow built for George Varney for $1,800 in late 1913, just as the pre- WWI building boom was starting to decline. This is one of the oldest houses in this block of Edgeware, as most of the others were built as Veterans Homes after WWII through Wartime Housing Ltd.
This front-gabled house has a small window in the gable, and a front-gabled corner porch inset into the left side of the main gable. To the right of the porch is shallow, cantilevered box bay below a pent roof. The porch gable has sharp bargeboard ends matching those on the main gable; square posts and chunky brackets support the porch roof. The front door with bevelled glass is one of the standard Craftsman Arts & Crafts designs. The porch balustrade is solid and the steps are side-facing. A flat-roofed dormer on the right side of the house is likely a later addition. A shallow, cantilevered box bay with a piano window is below and to the left of the dormer. The piano window has art glass. The main floor is clad in double-bevelled siding, the basement and gables are shingled. Panelled doors to the basement garage are under the porch. The house was likely raised to accommodate the garage and basement.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1913-46: George Varney (b. London, ENG, 1885- 1943) immigrated to Canada in 1908. In 1911 he earned $720 as a fire fighter and boarded with at least 22 other fire fighters at No.1 Fire Hall on Cormorant St. By 1913 he was a City Police Constable. He remained with the Police Department and was a Sergeant by 1940. In 1914 George married Maude (née Ball, b. London, ENG, 1892) in Victoria. Their children Vernon F. and Winnifred E. Varney were still living at this address in the 1930s while students. George died of encephalitis lethargica at the age of 58. This unusual and disturbing illness is sometimes referred to as “sleepy sickness.” An epidemic of the disease occurred in 1916, and continued well into the 1920s, devastating millions of people throughout the world. After George’s death Maud remained in the house until 1946.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1948: Mechanic Alec McKinnon and his wife Eileen.
1949-51: Douglas J. and Joan Richardson; Doug was a clerk at the Post Office.
1952-70: Harold W. Gollmer and Jean Evelyn “Nicky” (née Nickel, b. Outlook, SK 1922-2011). Nicky graduated from the Regina General Hospital School of Nurses in 1945 and married Harold Gollmer in July. Harold was discharged from the RCN at the end of the war and they moved to Victoria where Nicky worked as a head nurse at the Royal Jubilee Hospital in the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Memorial Pavilion. Harold worked for the Victoria City Police. By 1956 he was employed as a fire fighter for the Canadian Government. The Gollmers had three sons.
1970-80: The Gollmers divorced and Nicky remained in the house another ten years.
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