ARCHITECTURE:
This two-storey, cross-gabled Craftsman house has finials, brackets and exposed rafter tails. The upper storey is half-timbered stucco, the lower is shingled. There are rectangular shingled bays on the front and left side and a two-storey shallow bay on the right behind a first-floor blind bay. The single-storey bays have flat roofs. On the left front is a recessed entry porch with granite battered piers and stepped balustrade. The foundation is granite, as is the chimney on the left side and the front wall.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1914-30: Henry Edwin Munday (b. London, ENG 1863-1954) and Nora (née Woodward b. Gloucs, ENG 1870-1935) came here in 1889 and 1890, and married in 1892. Henry, a contractor [Nora’s father Arthur Woodward was also a contractor.] built a number of houses, and was involved in the construction of BC’s Parliament Buildings and Work Point Barracks. [The family lived in several of his houses, including from 1904-11 at 633 Elliot St] Forced to suspend business because of smallpox, he then spent time in the Klondike packing food and supplies for miners. In 1899 he opened his first boot & shoe store here at 89 Government St. The family eventually opened four more stores, closing the last in the 1990s. In 1931 Henry and Nora moved to 1035 Pakington St where they spent their last years with daughter Frances Mary (1901-1975).
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1933-39: Victoria City engineer Arthur Robert Charles “Charlie” Morton (b. Meerut, India 1890-1962) and Ethel Gordon (née Gibson, b. NW Prov, India 1890-1976), and her parents Archibald Fullerton Gibson (b. Airdrie, SCT 1856-1943) and Caroline Charlotte (née Woodside, b. Punjab, India 1860-1958). Charlie was a renowned coach of city rugby teams and track & field sports. He managed Victoria’s Gordon Head Airport in the early 1930s.
1940: Kathleen Dunbar Beresford (née Easton, b. ENG 1881-1972), widow of William Beresford.
1941-42: Robert C. and Ruth Thompson; he was on WWII active service.
1943-45: Louise(a) Wilhelmina Twyman(née Albany, b. Victoria 1877-1960), widow of Henry Twyman (b. ENG 1871-1941); son VMD employee Robert Trenwith Twyman (b. Victoria 1905-1966) married Daisy (née Goldie, b. Winnipeg 1912-?) in 1939.
1946-47: Mrs. Florence Patton ran a guest house here.
1948: William J. and Edith Turnbull ran the guest house.
1949-55: Crescent Guest House, proprietors Ivan Wesley Hanchard (b. Russia (894-1963) and Eva (née Chiko, b. Stornoway, NWT 1903-1988) retired in 1962 to Osoyoos, BC.