ARCHITECTURE:
This 2-storey Craftsman house, assessed at $5,500 in 1914, has a low-pitched, front-gabled roof with open eaves and exposed rafter-ends, with two more front-facing gables and a gable on the left side, all with paired brackets and half-timbering in the peaks. There is a 2-storey shed-roofed porch on the left front with paired, bracketed square supports at both levels, the lower ones on tapered granite piers; the top half of the porch has been walled and glassed in. Brick chimneys have a mixture of textures on each side, the left one with an alcoved fountain. The Ward Investment Co had this house built; it is rather similar to another designed for them by the same architect at 352 Moss St (Fairfield). 1069 is possibly Rockland’s best example of the California Bungalow style. The mix of rough “natural” materials such as random ashlar and shingle used to highlight the joinery of the porch and gable timber-work is typical of the style. In 1913 August Schallerer shared an office in the Sayward Building with Seattle architect E.E. Green, who designed Hart house for the secretary of Ward Investment Co (1961 Fairfield Pl, Gonzales) and 1442 Rockland Av.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
The earliest known occupants were Lewis Albert and Ethel May (Acton) Finch, who married in Victoria in 1911. Lewis and his brother Perry Finch were the proprietors of Finch & Finch, purveyors of men’s furnishings on Government St.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
By 1917, Harry Hercules (1865-1923) and Mary Rowed (Denmark, 1868-1954) Rowley were the occupants. Harry was born in Yarmouth, NS, Mary in Belleville, ON. A member of a prominent East Coast banking family, Harry came to Vancouver from Winnipeg in 1895, as a teller with the Bank of British North America. He arrived in Victoria in 1899 as an accountant for BBNA, then transferred to Rossland, BC, as manager in 1904. He headed back east in 1909, then worked for the Union Bank of Canada at various branches, including Vancouver in 1914. From 1915 until his death he managed the Victoria branch. Harry was treasurer of the Anglican Synod of BC, and of Christ Church Cathedral Buildings Ltd. Mary lived in the house until her death.
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