ARCHITECTURE:
This Queen Anne cottage with Arts & Crafts details has a gable-on-bellcast-hipped roof with half-timbering in the peak, and low shed-roofed dormers on both sides. The apex of the front gable is jettied above a shallow bow bay which sits below a wide string course. It was originally designed with a wraparound verandah with turned supports. A portion of the verandah was enclosed for use as a conservatory and the Victorian supports were replaced with square posts. The house is clad in shingles. This Queen Anne style home was designed and built by George C. Mesher.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1898-1901: Janet Elizabeth Mesher (née MacDonald 1870-1946) was the original property owner. She and her husband, George Charles Mesher (1860-1938) (1008 Carberry Gardens) lived at 154 South Turner St when this house was built.
The house was sold in 1901 to A.W. Vowell who dubbed it The Eyrie, likely because of its perch on a knoll. In 1912-13 Vowell employed Samuel Maclure to complete some renovations to the home that included exterior alterations to provide a more modern Arts & Crafts design style. Surviving drawings indicate repairs to the foundation, and reconstruction of the chimneys with more elaborate corbels and the addition of an extra stack. He also commissioned Maclure to design a new and larger Arts & Crafts Bungalow which was never built.*
*Maclure research by Jim Wolf
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1901-18: Arthur Wellesley Vowell, JP (b. Clonal, Tipperary, IRL 1839-1918), earliest recorded resident, served two years in the Irish Militia. He came here in 1862 and was unsuccessful seeking gold in the Cariboo. In 1864 he joined the Civil Service and from 1866-72 was chief constable at Big Bend, BC where mine riots were frequent. In 1872 he was appointed Gold Commissioner and stipendiary magistrate, then elected MLA for Kootenay 1875-76. He was appointed Ass Comm of Lands& Works for BC interior, then from 1889-1910 Supt Gen of Indian Affairs, then Reserve Commissioner for BC. He retired to Victoria. He was Royal Arch Mason and member of the Pioneer Soc. of BC. Vowell shot himself in this house in 1918 after a long and painful illness that he described as “worse than 40 deaths.”
1921-24: David Leeming (b. Manchester, ENG 1876-1939) married Amy Theresa (née McKenzie, b. Victoria 1881-1958) in 1908. He came here in 1894 and worked in real estate and customs. A member of Victoria City Council in 1922-23, he served as mayor from 1931-36. He was for many years president or a director of Victoria & Island Publicity Bureau, an active member of Chamber of Commerce and, at the time of his death, was president of Victoria Real Estate Board. Amy, a gifted musician, was organist for St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church in Victoria West for many years.
1925-45: Lt-Gen Sir Percy Henry Noel Lake, KCB, KCMG (b. Tenley, Pem, WAL 1855-1940) married Hester Fanny (née Woodyer, b. Guildford, ENG 1852-1945) in Hambleton, Sy, ENG in 1891. Educated at Preston Grammar Sch and Uppingham Sch, he was gazetted to militia in 1873 and served in 1878-79 Afghan War. He was appointed Quartermaster-Gen of Canadian Militia in 1894-98. He was Chief Staff Off for 2nd Army Corps in 1904, Chief of Can Gen Staff, 1905 and Insp Gen, Can Militia, 1908. He then became Gen Off Commanding 7th British Indian Division in India, 1911 and Chief of Gen Staff, India, 1912. In Jan 1916 he was appointed Comm of Mesopotamian Force and from 1913-20 was Col, East Lancs Reg. He and Lady Lake retired here in 1923. He helped establish the Canadian Legion, was a life member of Pro Patricia Branch and active in creation of Corps of Commissionaires here. In 1943, Lady Lake presented the first Sir Percy Lake Memorial Scholarship, at Victoria College.
The house was converted to suites;
1948-51: Asst Comm Thomas Hill Irvine, RCMP Ret’d (b. Middlesborough, Yorks, ENG 1880-1970) married second wife Aeta (née Highett, b. Melbourne, AUS 1887-1970) in Vancouver in 1920. He served with Can Cavalry, RNWMP, during WWI.
1949-60s: Cmdr. Charles Taschereau Beard, RCN (b. Ottawa 1890-1950) married Kathleen Adele (née Kemp b. SCT 1892-1987) in Dover, Kent, ENG in 1915. He went to England and joined the RNR in 1909, returning to Canada in 1910 to join the new RCNS. He served with the RN during WWI returning to Esquimalt in 1920 to command HMCS Patriot and in 1922, was first Comm Off of newly established HMCS Naden, Esquimalt. He was in command of HMCS Prince Robert during WWII when German freighter Weser was captured off the coast of Mexico in 1941 and brought to Esquimalt as a war prize. Upon retirement, he served as MLA for Esquimalt in 1945-48. Beard Islands, Queens Sound, S of Bella Bella, BC was named for him in Beard Lake near Port Hardy is named for son, Midshipman Thomas Norman Kemp Beard, RCN (b. Halifax, NS 1921-1941) lost in the sinking of HMS in the Battle of Denmark Strait. Kathleen remained in the house many years after Charles’s death.