ARCHITECTURE:
This hip-roofed Queen Anne house has four pedimental gables, three front-facing and one on the right side. The gables have diamond-patterned shingles, and wide bargeboards with appliquéd fretwork. On the right front is a large two-storey angled bay; on the left are upper balcony and lower porch separated by a fish-scale-shingled balustrade. Both have turned posts. There is an angled bay on the right side; both angled bays have fretwork brackets with turned pendants at the corners. The transom above the front door and the window on the left side are multi-paned with Queen Anne and etched glass. There is a later deck addition on the left side for two second-floor entrances. Exterior walls are now covered in smooth stucco. The steep lot has terraces with low fieldstone walls around exposed bedrock outcroppings.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1897-1918: John Thomas McDonald (b. Manilla, ON 1855-1923) and Marie Louise (née Ormond, b. Peterborough, ON 1861-1949) came here in 1892. He purchased the major portion of the triangular property at Oak Bay Junction and established a grocery business that he ran for 17 years. In 1912 he built the McDonald Block at the corner of Fort Street and Oak Bay Av. He was a member of First Presbyterian Church, IOOForesters, Odd Fellows and Ancient Order of United Workmen as well as Canadian Club. They had three sons, the youngest Harold Blair was on the editorial staff of The Colonist.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1920-21: David Owen Lewis, CE (1865-1947) married Caroline Martha (née Hall, b. Londonderry, IRL 1868-1957) in York, ON in 1897; he was living in Nelson at the time employed with the railway. In January 1916 he was admitted to the Institute of Civil Engineers in BC where his employment is given as District Engineer, Canadian Northern Pacific Railway, in charge of location and construction, Vancouver Island.
1923-27: Ernest Edmund Brydone-Jack, CE (b. NB 1871-1960) married Mary Ann “Minna” Robinson (née Fisher, b. Fredericton, NB 1872-1939) in Freemont, NB in 1896. Among his many accomplishments he was Dean of Engineering, UNB, professor of civil engineering, U Manitoba; superintendent of public works Canada, prairie provinces, BC, Northwest Territories and Yukon as well as consulting engineer for bridges for Canadian Northern Railway Western Lines. In 1916, Mary Ann was president of Canadian Engineers Auxiliary in Winnipeg overseeing fund raising to provide comforts for men at the front during WWI. Ernest died in California.
1929-31: Sewell and Matilda Moody (1020 St. Charles St).
1933-40: Herman Rupert Brown (b. Duncan, BC 1887-1966) married Evelyn Mary Russell (née Abbey, b. Regina, SK 1886-1966) here in 1915. Her parents, pioneer residents of the NWT came to Victoria in 1901. Her father, Albert T. Abbey, established The City Brokerage in 1907. By 1919 Herman had joined his father-in-law’s real estate company, which he managed until 1958. He also had his own building and contracting company. He served eight years on Central Saanich council and was Reeve from 1954-60. He was a 50-year member of Knights of Pythias.
1941-42: Mrs. Helen Margaret Thirza Kearton (née Nicolle, b. Kobe, Japan 1886-1974), along with her daughter Valerie a stenographer with BC Land & Investment.
1943: Margaret Stanley whose husband Alan Douglas Stanley (b. Montréal, QC 1918-2009) was on Active Service. After WWII he became a CPA starting his career as resident partner with MacDonald Currie & Co, Vancouver.
1944: Palm Dairies foreman James Archibald Gibbs (b. Bristol, ENG 1901-1966) married Carol Mary (née Poore, b. Belfast, IRL 1903-?) here in 1926. (2715 Blackwood St) They shared the house with her sister Olivia whose husband Cyril Nash Curtis (b. Manchester, ENG 1894-1958) was on Active Service. Nephew John Curtis also worked at Palm Dairies.
1945: Sgt Harry Wilkins, RCMP and his wife Maude (née Clarke) retired here. A veteran of WWI he was wounded at Vimy in 1915 and released in 1917. He returned to Swift Current, SK where he served with SK Provincial Police before joining the Mounties.
1945-50: Gerard S. and Nora Culhane lived here for a couple of years, then Nora by herself until 1950. They divorced and she married John M. Wainscott. She worked for Richardson’s News Store then joined BC civil service and became a micro-film operator.
1950-51: Winifred Mary Louis (née Bourke, b. London, ENG 1881-1976) of 1025 Terrace Av, had 1030 converted to four suites. Widow of Lieut. Reginald Hinton Louis, they married in Kamloops in Aug 1914. In Sept he enlisted and went overseas with 49th Btn CEF. Wounded in 1917 at Vimy Ridge, he died in 1918 and is buried in Barlin Communal Cemetery, FRA.
Tenants: 1951: Dorothy Hunt (née Cooke, b. ENG 1881-1976) married DVA messenger Harold Albert Hunt (b. Wolverhampton, ENG 1899-1951) in Vancouver in 1923; he died of a brain tumour.
1952-53: Bank of Montréal Accountant Joseph Irwin Landrey (b. Edinburgh, SCT 1919-2004) and Elizabeth Jean (née Lang, b. Ottawa 1921-1990) of RJH Welfare Dept shared with BC Tel Supervisor Gordon Frederick Stringer (b. Hanna, AB 1924-1991) and Marian Edith (née Lowe, b. Medicine Hat, AB 1924-2012). 1954: Lieut. Nicholas J Perrault, RCN and his wife Gisele B.
1955: BC Forest Products operator Gordon W. and Ada Harding.