ARCHITECTURE:
This 2½-storey house, which cost $9,000, is hip-roofed with large gabled extensions on all sides. The bracketed gables have finials and are jettied on corbels. There is a gabled dormer on the front, and flat-roofed and hip-roofed dormers on the rear. The front has a balcony over the recessed entry porch, all supported on heavy battered granite piers. The step and porch balustrades are also granite. On the L side is another balustraded balcony above what was once an open porch, now enclosed. The ground floor is faced with granite, the second floor and gables with roughcast stucco and half-timbering, and the rear façade is shingled. It has three ribbed and corbelled brick chimneys.
Samuel Maclure was not the first designer to be identified with Tudor Revival houses in Victoria. L.B. Trimen designed Ellesmere (1321 Rockland Av) in 1889, and Wm. Ridgway-Wilson, Schuhum (1322 Rockland Av) in 1894. Maclure’s launch into the Tudor style was a renovation of Schuhum in 1901 where he replaced the small gabled wooden entry porch with a fashionable brick porte-cochère out of historical character which obscured the façade. Perhaps it is unfair to be critical of Maclure for this, as doubtless his client had demanded the alterations. Despite “Macluresque” and “Tudor” being synonymous in Victoria, few of his half-timbered creations have other hallmarks of the Tudor style. Maclure preferred to develop his own eclectic style.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1905-67: Biggerstaff “Big” Wilson (b. Victoria 1874-1925), son of prominent Victoria clothier William Wilson, married Bertha Matilda “Tillie” (née Erb, b. Victoria 1875-1970) in 1900. Big was sent to Christ’s College, London, ENG, to complete his studies as had older brother Herbert (610 St. Charles St). In 1901 he founded B. Wilson Ice & Cold Storage Co on Store St, relocating and expanding it to Herald St in 1909. The company opened a locker plant in 1935 and in 1938 introduced a line of packaged foods, mostly fruits and vegetables. An avid golfer, he was elected president of Pacific NW Golf Assoc and in 1921 was one of eight golfers from the W to compete in an amateur US championship in St. Louis, MO, USA. He remained active until a year before his death when he fell ill after a trip to England. He travelled to California in hopes of regaining his health, but died at his daughter Marion Lampman’s home in Beverly Hills.
Bertha was educated at Angela College (923 Burdett Av) and lived her entire life in Victoria. Son Richard Biggerstaff “Dick” Wilson (b. Victoria 1904-1991), mayor of Victoria from 1961-65, is said to have kick-started Victoria’s urban renewal. He was chancellor of UVic 1967-69; a student residence was named in his honour. Bertha, a member of Vic Horticultural Soc, well known for her beautiful gardens,lived here until 1967.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1967-2010: Henry William “Harry” Gladwell (b. Regina, SK 1911-2010) married Priscilla “Caroline” Shiers (née Lomax, b. Vancouver 1923-2007) in King Co, WA, USA in 1958. She grew up in Hong Kong. He acquired the local Ford dealership and ran Gladwell Motors from 1946 until selling to Merlin Motors in 1958. He excelled at many sports: rowing, sailing, skiing, golfing, fishing and hunting; he surfed into his 80s.