ARCHITECTURE:
This two-storey, slightly-flared-hip-roofed British Arts & Crafts house combines elements of both the Tudor and Georgian Revival styles. The modillions, the symmetrical upper façade, and the high belt course are Edwardian features. There is a one-storey, hip-roofed box bay on the left side and at the rear, a shed-roofed projection. A large centrally-located, hip-roofed box bay on the front façade shelters the main entrance with its panelled door and doubleleaded art glass sidelights. The square upper bay, with leaded art glass, is supported on substantial granite piers with heavy granite capitals. The stair balustrade is stepped and of granite, as is the foundation of the house. There is roughcast stucco and half-timbering above the belt course and on the upper bay, and shingles below. Windows are all multi-lights-over-one, and in groups. The tall, ribbed, brick chimneys are corbelled and have chimney pots.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1911-25: Andrew “Andy” John Bechtel (b. Carey, OH USA 1850-1936) moved to this house from 442 John St a year after his wife’s death in CA, USA. He came here in 1873 and in 1877 married Rachel (née Munger, b. Canberra, AUS 1861-1910), who came to Canada in 1867. Son Dr. Arthur Daniel Bechtel lived at 1373 Rockland Av, daughter Ethel May Lennox at 1216 Rockland Av. Andy was prop. of the Terminus / California Saloon on Johnson St from 1877-98. He was involved in the sealing industry for a number of years and in 1916 sold the last of the large sealers, Ysabel May. From 1901-20 he was manager of Victoria Machinery Depot. Son Albert Andrew Bechtel (b. Victoria 1882-1959) spent 40 years with VMD.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1927-30: Percy Britten Fowler (b. ENG 1873-1945) and Agnes Dora (née Hill, b. Billings, MT, USA 1888-1952) married in Nelson, BC in 1920. Percy, a banker, first came here in 1892 and married Kate Cooley (née Wolfenden, b. Victoria 1878-1972), daughter of Richard and Kate Wolfenden (140 Government St) in 1900; they divorced in 1916.
1931: Charles and Marguerite Spratt (548 Lotbiniere Av).
1933-34: Col. Eion MacGregor MacBrayne, MC, Dist Cadet MD No.11 (b. Perth, SCT 1890-1963) and Margaret “Maggie” (née Findlay, b. Gladstone, MB 1890-1956) married in 1916. 1936-40: Doris “Dollie” (née Powell, b. Audubon Co, IO, USA 1881-1964) married Dr. Rowland Paul Hills, MA, LLD, (b. Gailey, Staffs, ENG 1862-1931) twice, in Nebraska, USA 1999 and in Salt Lake City, UT, USA 1903. She lived in the house with her offspring: Edgar Ellsworth (b. Omaha, NE, USA 1903-1983), driver for Victoria City Dairy, later a marine draftsman; Rowland “Roy” George (b. Salt Lake City 1907-1981) and Charles Thomas (b. Winnipeg 1911-1993) of Hills Bros Seed Co later became Anglican ministers; Dorothy “Dodie” Lucy (d. 1982) married postman Russell McEwen Gay (b. Vancouver 1916-1998); Ursula Pauline (1921-2019) married aeronautical engineer Hugh Owen Thomas (b. Boulder, CO, USA 1903-1993) and became a well-known piano and organ accompanist and choir director.
1941-43: Arthur John Daniels (1877-1955) and Kate Louisa “Kitty” (née Jolly, 1871-1949) married in Essex, ENG in 1902 (601 Raynor Av). They rented this house at $48 a month for its large music room. Daughter Mary Maquinna “Tim” (b. Victoria 1912-1962) gave piano lessons until joining RCAF, WD established 1941.
1943-44: Converted to six suites, Tomlin Manor, by Harry Edward Tomlin (b. Canada 1893-1955) and Edith (née Hoover) who married in Calgary in 1941 and later divorced. 1945-60: Spencer Apts: Albert Spencer (b. ENG 1888-1967) married Annie Emily (née Potter, 1889-1983) in Montréal in 1914 and came here in 1927. He retired as a BC Tel installer in 1953.
Tenants: Lt. Henry George Dimsdale, MC, CE (b. Port Hope, ON 1876-1967) served with 102nd Canadian Infantry Btn. during WWI. He and wife Ella Mabel (née Eckholdt, b. Rochester, MN, USA 1878-1961) farmed in Peace River Region on a Soldiers Settlement Land Grant. They retired in 1936 and moved here in 1940. Mary Trimble (née Smith, b. Ingersoll, ON 1887-1957) lived here c.10 years. She and husband Leon Vincent Trimble, HBC personnel superintendent, came from Edmonton in the late 1930s. He died in 1943. Florence Charlotte Backler (née Keen, b. ENG 1882-1966) lived here until 1952. She came in 1914 with husband Capt. Leonard Backler, RN (1863-1944).