ARCHITECTURE:
This is a two-storey, front-gabled Craftsman/California Bungalow with a smaller front-facing right gable. It has wide, open eaves with exposed rafter tails and knee brackets in stucco and half-timbered gables. A fullwidth, inset front verandah has massive battered, stuccoed piers, with a partial-width, inset second-storey balcony on the left. There are two square first-floor bays with bracketed gable roofs. On the right side is a hip-roofed second-floor sleeping porch, now enclosed, supported on stuccoed piers creating a drive-through to the original garage beyond. It is clad in unequal-coursed shingles.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1915-20: Harry Frederick Bullen (b. Delaware, ON 1867-1924) and Margaret Ellen (née Newell, b. S.Africa c.1881-1934). Margaret Warter, a widow, came to Canada in 1906 with two daughters, and married Harry c.1911-15.
Harry trained in banking in London, ON. He moved from Seattle to Victoria in 1894 and became a partner in Bullen & Jamieson, Financial & Insurance agents. [His brother, William Fitzherbert Bullen (1858-1921), had established the BC Marine Railway Co in Esquimalt in 1893. William married Annie Amelia Bushby (1864- 1956), a granddaughter of Sir James and Lady Amelia Douglas, in 1884; their home was Oakdene, 924 Esquimalt Rd, from c.1898-1956.] Harry soon joined the BCMRC; the other partners in the firm were Annie Bushby Bullen, her brother George Gordon Bushby (1005 St. Charles St, Rockland), and R.D. Dusgate. In 1898 they expanded to Vancouver and established a shipbuilding business, constructing several Princess ships for the CPR and others for the Dominion Government. The company also did repair work, including work for the British Admiralty.
They sold the Victoria company in 1914 to Alfred and Norman Yarrow, shipbuilders from Glasgow, SCT, but the Bullens and Bushby retained ownership of the BC Salvage Co (established earlier) and the Vancouver branch of the BCMRC. Harry retired in 1918, and the family moved to 908 St. Charles St, Rockland, while their new home at 906 St. Charles St was being built. After Harry’s death, Margaret left for London with her five daughters c.1926. She died while travelling in Germany.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1920-21: William Hamer Hargrave (b. Quebec c.1867) and Lily Blanche (née Sicotte, b. St. Hyacinthe, QC 1857-1928) lived in Vancouver where he was manager of the Eastern Township (Quebec) Bank until it amalgamated with the Canadian Bank of Commerce; he then managed the Robson St branch. They came to Victoria in 1917 and lived at 908 St. Charles St before moving to this house.
1923: Clementina Jane Bate (née Holland, b. Ontario 1855-1935), the widow of Newell Bate, and her daughter Eleanor Thornton Bate (b. Ottawa, ON 1885-1961).
1924-26: James McGown (1862-1926) and Jessie (née Hoey, 1863-1956), and daughters Jessie Hoey and Margaret Isabella, born in Vancouver in 1897 and 1898. James and Jessie were born in Glasgow, SCT. James apprenticed as an engineer in Liverpool. He joined the Cunard Line in 1884 and served on various vessels in the Atlantic. He arrived here in 1891 on the Empress of Japan, and by 1902 was superintending engineer of the BCCSS in Vancouver. In 1923, James became executive engineer of the Princess line, headquartered in Victoria, but he died three years later. His family returned to Vancouver.
1927-44: Dr. Douglas William Graham (1882-1960) and Ruby Mary (née Moody, 1888-1943) were born in Quebec and came to Victoria in 1922. Douglas left this house after Ruby died, and moved to Swift Current, SK, where he married Alda Beth McEwan (1890-1973), who was born in North Dakota. Douglas returned to Victoria in 1957, and died three years later.
1945-61: William Hallinan Dunbar (b. Hong Kong 1906-1961) and Mary Margaret “Joan” (née Leckie). William came to Victoria in 1928 and was president of Sussex Holdings from 1938 until his death. He was on active service in WWII. His wife and daughter inherited the bulk of his $1.8 million estate.
Recent Comments