ARCHITECTURE:
This two-storey, steeply-pitched hip-roofed British Arts & Crafts house has exposed rafter tails and a hip-roofed dormer on the front. On the left front façade, a porch with glassed-in entry and balcony above were added in 1948. Right of the porch is a full-height, wide box bay fronted by narrow angled bay; both are hip-roofed, with half-timbering between the floors. There are multiple narrow, multi-paned, leaded lights on both floors. The house is stuccoed, with random rubble and quoins on the porch, lower front bay and chimneys.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1914-46: James Forman, JP (b. Londonderry, NS 1860-1944) married Hannah Selina (née Logan, b. Pembroke, NS 1861-1929) in Pembroke in 1884. They lived in New York, NY and came here in 1891. They lived at 609 Toronto St in 1892-93, then 1901-15 until they moved in here. He started with Heisterman & Co as a bookkeeper, in 1908 becoming a partner with Bernard S. Heisterman and Laura A Heisterman (widow of C.Henry F.H. 1521 Shasta Pl) in Heisterman, Forman & Co, Insurance, Financial & Real Estate. James was instrumental in organizing the real estate agents and served a term as Pres of Vic Real Estate Board. Because of his lengthy experience in real estate, he was often called as an expert witness on assessment appeals and because he was a JP, he was appointed secretary of RJH Pathologists Office, 1898. He served many years on RJH Board of Directors and Hannah was an advocate for YWCA. Daughter Helen Tremaine (b. Victoria 1901) married Capt. Gordon L.W. MacDonald, RCA in Halifax in 1936. Helen came back here in 1942 and stayed with her father until 1946 while her husband was overseas.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1947-48: Retired Barrister James Alexander Duff-Robertson (b. Invergordon, SCT 1889-1954).
1948-61: Athol Robert James McBean (b. Durham, ON 1879-1961) married Luelle Woonona (née MacLeod, b. Winnipeg, MB 1885-1955) in Winnipeg in 1904. They moved here in 1947 after he retired as a grain merchant and VP of MacLeod’s Ltd. In 1948 they hired Thomas Lambie & Son to do alterations costing $2,000. He was a member of Union Club and Victoria Golf Club. Both are buried in Elmwood Cemetery, Winnipeg.