ARCHITECTURE:
One of the earliest estates on Rockland, this two-storey house was constructed for $7,000 in fashionable Italianate style. Similar to 146 Clarence St. Fairholme has a shallow, hipped roof, eaves supported by sandwich brackets, paired at outer corners, and panels in the frieze between brackets. It has two main wings, each fronted by two-storey angled bays with turned corner details and one-over-one double-hung sashes with horns. The Rockland Pl façade has a wide, shallow full-height extension with two-over-two sashes. The horizontal is emphasized by a belt course and water table. Main entrance steps, on the Rockland Pl façade left of the bay, lead to a verandah with a balcony above. Slim chamfered verandah posts have sharp capitals and delicately carved brackets that support the ceiling fascia. The house is clad in drop siding; a rubble stone foundation has ashlar quoins. It has two brick chimneys, one with elaborate corbelling. A gabled rear extension has grown over time.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1885-1906: Dr. John Chapman Davie Jr. (b. Wells, Somerset, ENG 1845-1911) arrived here in 1862 on SS Anna Maria with father, Dr. J.C. Davie, Sr, sister Selina, and brothers Alexander and Theodore. [Younger brothers Horace and William came later to the Cowichan Valley]. All brothers were educated at Eton College, ENG. Alexander and Theodore studied law, entered politics, and were BC premiers in 1887-89 and 1892-95, respectively. Dr. Davie Jr graduated from Toland Medical Coll, UofCA, San Francisco in 1865. He worked with his father, then with Dr. John Helmcken (638 Elliot St); he was known as “Shot Gun” Davie because he took a gun along to shoot pheasants when visiting patients in the country. The first doctor at St. Joseph’s Hospital, he designed and planned the first Royal Jubilee Hospital. He was instrumental in formation of BC’s first training school for nurses. He is credited with introducing modern medicine here, including Pasteur and Lister’s antiseptic system, and performed the first appendectomy. In 1883 Prem. Theodore Davie appointed him BC’s chief medical health officer to deal with a smallpox epidemic; he quickly brought it under control. Dr. Davie married twice, first to Kate (née Thain, b. San Francisco 1853-1881) in 1869. In 1884 he married Sara Holmes (née Todd, b. Victoria 1855-1894) daughter of Anne Fox and Jacob Hunter Todd . [It was rumoured that they began courting before Kate died and she died of a broken heart]. Sara died of pneumonia. He moved to Oak Bay in 1906.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1907-18: Vict & Vanc Lime & Brick Co Mng Dir Frederick Berry Sutherland Warren (b. Niagara on the Lake, ON 1859-1947) married Violet (née Gilmor, b. Toronto 1857-1937) in Toronto in 1887 and moved here in 1907, calling it Menota. 1920-23: Barrister and Solicitor John Ronald Green (b. Elgin, ON 1879-1942) married Alice “Gertrude” (née Huntley, b. St. Thomas, ON 1889-1987) in NY, USA in 1909. “Madam,” as she preferred to be known, was an internationally renowned pianist. They later divorced.
1926-45: Journalist and writer Arthur Stileman Averill (b. Sx, ENG 1886-1956) and Evelyn Alice Haines (née Knight, b. E Preston, Sx, ENG 1883-1937) converted it to six-suite Rockland Court in 1928. He came to Canada in 1907, BC in 1919. In 1935 Evelyn took son John (b. Duncan 1922-2011) to school in England, where she died. Arthur married Helen Barbara LeBagge (née Welsh, b. Calgary 1898-1987), moved to Telegraph Bay Rd and retired in 1953.
1948: Ethel Unwin, bldg mgr (852 Pemberton Rd).
1949-55: Joseph A. and Gladys Holmes.
Tenants: 1929-31: Architect John Graham Johnson (b. London, ENG 1882-1945) and Hilda Constance (née Olds, 1880-1965). He came here in 1914, returned to serve in WWI, came back in 1920. In 1936 they moved to a house he designed below this property, now 620 Rockland Pl.
1945-55: After John’s death, Hilda lived here again.
1933-40: Miss Jeanette Cann taught psychology and English at Victoria College. 1935-42: Louis Ramsbothan Davies (b. London, ENG 1885-1964) married Jennet Louisa (née Lawson, b. Victoria 1889-1978) here in 1915. He was a Can Hydrographic Service surveyor for 55 years.
1935-66: Robert Walker Shannon, KC (b. Portglenone, IRL 1857-1936) married Emily Frances (née Sears, b. Kingston, ON 1876-1966) here in 1915. His family came to Kingston in 1857. He graduated law, Queen’s Univ, and practised in Yukon then Saskatchewan. He retired as a member of SK Legislative Counsel. Emily was a strong VON supporter.
1939-40: Edward and Eva Kjekstad, both physiotherapists, and son Bernard, Victoria Coll student.
1943-58: Herbert “Neville” Wright (b.Lancashire, ENG 1881-1951) married Florence Isabel (née Raddish, b. Liverpool, ENG 1890-1979) here in 1915. Neville was BC Dep Min of Finance for 34 years, retiring in 1946. Florence, lifetime member of Order of Royal Purple, later moved to 906 Pemberton Rd.
1946-54: John Findlay Sweeting (b. ENG 1872-1954) and Jessie Craven (née Dickens, b. ENG 1883-1961) lived across the prairies before retiring here in 1940. At one time he was Chief, Indus Br of Can Pac Dept of Nat Res. Jessie later moved to 906 Pemberton Rd. Son Major Dennis Dickens Sweeting, MC, DSO (b. Calgary 1915-2000) was Adj, Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders of Can in 1939, and led the company that liberated Netterden, Netherlands, from Germans in April 1945. At 38 he became an actor, then Gen Mgr of renowned travelling theatre companies Canadian Players and Spring Thaw. In 1964 he founded Kawartha Summer Theatre in Lindsay, ON presenting weekly plays each summer, and ran the company for many years. In 1994 he received the Order of Canada (OC). His sister June Dickens Whitteker (b. Calgary 1914-1993) was the well-known Canadian radio commentator “June Dennis” from the 1950s on, at a time when women were a rarity in the profession.
1980-2020+: The house became a B&B, now called Fairholme Manor Inn. Since 1999 it has been operated by Sylvia and Ross Main.