ARCHITECTURE:
This is a 2½-storey, front-gabled Edwardian Arts & Crafts house. It has exposed rafter-tails and finials in all the gables. A through-the-cornice wall gabled dormer on the left and a two-storey, gabled extension on the right shelter a variety of shallow box bays and small oriel bays on jigsaw cutout brackets. There are flat-roofed, cantilevered and bracketed box bays on the left rear side and on the right front. An inset corner porch on the left front is separated from an upper gabled extension by a wide pent roof. The porch has two full-height granite piers and two granite pilasters; its sawn balusters have an A&C motif. Originally there was a balcony above the porch with similar balusters. The gables and second floor have stucco and half-timbering, the first floor has bullnose, double-bevelled siding, the foundation on the sides and rear is shingled. The front foundation and the staircase are clad in random granite. This 10-room house appeared in March 1913 in Vancouver’s Daily Building Record, listing the architect and a cost of $7,000.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1912-52: Fred Parfitt (b. Dunketon, Som, ENG 1870-1931) came here with brothers Jim and Aaron in 1889 and entered the bricklaying and contracting trade. In 1892, Fred returned to England and ran a building firm in Bristol for 16 years. He married Sarah (née Hamblin, b. Kilmersdon, Som, ENG 1876-1957) in 1898. He returned here in 1908 to join Parfitt Bros Ltd (Jim, Aaron, Mark and Albert), one of Victoria’s leading and longest surviving construction firms, 1907-50, when the next generation renamed it Parfitt Construction Co. In 1910 Fred brought Sarah and their five children here. They lived at 1921-23 Fernwood Rd until 2663 was built. Fred was a long time member, then conductor of Emmanuel Baptist Choir; eldest daughter Violet (2645 Fernwood Rd) was the organist. Sarah lived here with daughters Lillian (b. Bristol 1900-1993), a civil servant, and Rosiemai “Rose” (b. Victoria 1912-2009), a school teacher until 1952. Sarah lived with Lillian and husband John Ingram Smith (b. Edinburgh, SCT 1894-1984) at 1271 Kings Rd until her death
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1953-55: Victoria College teacher George “Reid” Elliott (b. ON 1904-1974), later a professor at UVic, and Helen Margaret (née Munro, b. Morden, MB 1902-1987).