ARCHITECTURE:
Galt House is a 2½-storey British Arts & Crafts Tudor Revival mansion; Maclure’s name became synonymous with this style. It has a steeply-hipped roof with exposed rafter tails, many shed-roofed dormers, and one gabled dormer on the main Gillespie Pl façade. There is a large 2½-storey, half-timbered, gabled bay on the Rockland Av façade, with bracketed bargeboards and a drop finial. It has an angled bay on the main floor below an angled balcony; to the right is a large square balcony over a glassed-in main floor extension. The balustraded porte-cochère on the Gillespie façade has tall, square granite piers. There is a open wrap-around verandah to the right which continues to the angled bay. The masonry on the ground floor is dark grey granite with light coloured quoins. The second floor above a wooden belt course is clad in roughcast stucco, as are the several wide chimney stacks. A number of windows feature large central single panes with sidelights and transoms of leaded glass. The garage has a frontgabled roof with roughcast stucco and half-timbering in the gable, over a jettied beam supported on chunky brackets which Maclure called corbels. The 16-room house was built for $30,000. Galt House is named for the second owners.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1915-20: Frederick Nation (b. Kent Co, ON 1861-1955) and Abigail Geach (née Bowden, b. ON 1866-1920) married in 1886 in Brandon, MB, where Frederick founded a department store. He was a director of Great West Life Assurance Co before coming to Victoria in 1910. During WWI he was secretary of Canadian Patriotic Fund, a group that organized war bond drives.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1920-44: John Galt (b. Montréal, QC 1856-1933) married Mabel Patton (née Henderson, b. Kingston, ON 1866-1944) in 1890. Son of Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt, a Father of Confederation, John had been president of Union Bank, retiring in 1920. Daughter Maryon married Haliburton Weldon (906 Pemberton). John’s brother and sisters lived at 1005 St. Charles St.
1943-46: The house was converted to 10 suites by Mabel and operated by Miss Mary Elizabeth “May” Cherry (1195 Fort St). From 1928-55 May managed several converted mansions in Rockland, including 1195 Fort St, 1385 Manor Rd, 834 Pemberton Rd and 1337 Rockland Av. From 1925-27 she lived at 1141 Fort St.