ARCHITECTURE:
This large 2-storey Arts & Crafts California Bungalow is very reminiscent of the architecture of Greene & Greene in Pasadena, CA. It features multiple low-pitched gables and wide, extensively-bracketed eaves. The low porch has a porte-cochère to the right with a flat roof forming a balcony above. It rests on decorative brick piers. The timber brackets are stacked and braced. Many beam-ends are rounded instead of the more usual pyramid shape. The brick with every fourth course emphasized is carried through on the entire first floor. The second floor is shingled. The garden façade has a broad brick porch with pergola roof to the right side, an angled bay in the middle with a gabled open porch above and a gabled, full-height extension at the left side. Windows are grouped casements, divided near the top with a horizontal muntin in a cloud lift design made famous by Greene & Greene, and harkening back to the strong Japanese influence on the California Bungalow. Brick chimneys are corbelled and have parged caps.
According to family lore, the initial design was by Charles King whom the Wilsons met while vacationing in California; however, there was no architect named Charles King at the time. The plans are signed by George Bishop who worked for George C. Mesher & Co.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1912-69: Harriet Elizabeth (née Ross, b. Victoria 1876-1969) and Herbert “Goulding” Wilson (b. London, ENG 1872-1938), descendants of pioneer merchant families, married in Victoria in 1902 and first lived at 2703 Douglas St (Burnside TOH3 p6). [Harriet was the daughter of Dixi Harrison Ross, an American who made his fortune goldmining in the Cariboo in the 1870s and opened Dixi Ross & Co Food Emporium in Victoria. He competed fiercely with other merchants like R.P. Rithet (998 Humboldt St), Wilson Brothers, Robert Ward (1249 Rockland Av) and Simon Leiser (1005 St. Charles St; 522-524 Yates St, Downtown).] Harriet was VP of Victorian Order of Nurses for many years.
Herbert was the third child of Isabella and William Wilson; Wm and brother Joseph founded W&J Wilson Clothiers (1221 Government St, Downtown) in 1862. Isabella was visiting England when Herbert was born; he entered Boys’ Central School and completed his education at Christ’s College, Cambridge, ENG as did his younger brother Biggerstaff (1770 Rockland Av). Herbert returned to Victoria in 1888 and joined R.P. Rithet & Co, wholesale grocers (1117-1125 Wharf St, Downtown), then Cowan & Wilson in 1892, a grocery firm part-owned by his father, who eventually took over the firm as Wilson Brothers (532-538 Herald St, Downtown). Herbert, who was also associated with W&J Wilson, retired from active business c.1928. He and Harriet remained in the house until their deaths.