ARCHITECTURE:
This single-storey Edwardian cottage has a hipped roof and front gable-on-hip extension with a triangular window in the small gable. The porch to the left has several Tuscan columns and a solid balustrade. The water table is continuous with the porch rail. There are two pairs of one-over-one, double-hung, sash windows with horns on the front, a central entrance door, and side-facing steps. On the left side is a small enclosed entry porch, and on the rear, a hip-roofed extension. There are three corbelled brick chimneys. The house is clad in bevelled siding and the foundation is concrete.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
The BC Government built this house for the head gardeners of Government House, 1401 Rockland Av.
1910-12: John Harper Randall (b. Wingfield, Wilts, ENG 1871-1961) married first wife Bessie Mabel (nee Miles, b. Swindon, ENG 1893-?) in New Swindon in 1895 and came here in 1910. He moved on as Empress Hotel gardener. In 1933 he married Irene Mabel (née Dandridge, then Wildbore, b. Brockley, ENG 1893-1990).
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1913-15: Florist Percy Edgar Lamb (b. Stoke Damerel, Plymouth, ENG 1877-1939) and Mae/May Billie (née Otter, b. ENG 1889-1977). He had worked at other jobs here in Victoria.
1917-18: AOF-member John Shiner (b. Somerset, ENG 1884-1924) married Sybilla Henrietta (née Boothby, b. Harrow, ENG 1886-1957) in Yeovil, Somerset, ENG in 1906. He came here March 1913, she with the children in August. He worked for Esquimalt Nurseries 1914-15, later at Tod Inlet as Jennie Butchart’s head gardener (1737 Rockland Av, 906 St Charles St) until his death.
1920-21: Ernest Barlow (b. Hants, ENG 1878-?) married Elizabeth Mary (née Jones, b. ENG 1881-1950) in Lambeth, ENG in 1904.
1921-51:William Gray Darling (b. Aberdeen, SCT 1886-1975) and Jessie (née Bailey, b. Lancs, ENG 1880-1960) came to Canada in 1910, here in 1920. He retired from Government House, then was gardener for BC Power Comm.