ARCHITECTURE:
This is a shallow-hip-roofed, two-storey Neo-Classical-style house with modillions and dentils in the eaves. The full-width front verandah has a portico over the central entrance, fieldstone piers, turned balusters and a profusion of Tuscan columns. Side windows are paired; front windows are tripled, with large picture windows. The entrance has double doors and transom, all with leaded art glass. On the left side the larger windows have art glass transoms and sidelights; on the right, art glass windows. To the L rear is a small shed-roofed, single-storey extension, originally a conservatory, and a two-storey extension to the rear. The siding is double-bevelled; the foundation is stone, the chimneys brick. At the rear is a many-gabled coach house from 1911.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
[1894-1905: An older house on this property was owned by Isabel Julia Askew (née Curtis, b. Islington, London, ENG 1849-1905), widow of Thomas George Askew (b. Odell, Beds, ENG 1838-1880).]
1907-11: Francis William Stevenson (b. Napanee, ON 1881-1970) paid the property taxes from 1908; property improvements jumped from $1500 to $6000, suggesting that the previous house had been torn down or moved. He came with his parents in 1884, living at 69 Carr St until his marriage to Nellie Edna (née Gray, b. Victoria 1884-1943) in 1904. He worked as a cashier for CPR, then as a clerk in the stock exchange before becoming a broker and establishing FW Stevenson & Co. (with Walter Herbert Murphy, b. Woodstock, IL, USA 1869-?) stock and grain brokers in 1909. He held rights to a New York wire service and introduced the first stock quotations directly to Victoria via his offices in Tacoma, WA, USA. When Victoria Stock Exchange formed in 1911, he headed the syndicate. He remained active in the investment field until the age of 87, was one of Victoria’s first car drivers, a title-holding amateur boxer and founding member of Pacific Club. [His father William Gordon Stevenson was prop. of a number of hotels, saloons, etc and partnered with John Boyd Jones to manage Pritchard House; others were Delmonico Hotel, Delmonico Music Hall, Bodega Saloon.]
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1911-14: John Henry Oldfield (b. Norfolk, ENG 1856-1924) married Emma Louise Inman (née Menard, b. Port Dover, ON 1855-1925) in 1885. He came to Canada in 1879, settled in Winnipeg, and established a successful real estate firm, Oldfield, Kirby & Gardner. He and Emma came here in 1912 and commissioned Sam Maclure to design a rear extension and conservatory on the house. They then settled near Elk Lake, Saanich at 5789 Brookhill Rd (Heritage Designated). Son Henry “Clarence” Oldfield (b. Winnipeg 1889-1956), a founder of Growers Wine Co and long-time president of Saanich Fruit Growers’Assoc, married his father’s cousin Doris Octavia (née Oldfield, b. Norfolk, ENG 1889-1953) in 1912; their wedding supper was held in 852.
1915-18: Sarah Eliza McLimont (c.1830-1925), widow of William, with daughters Christina (1858-1950) and Helena (c.1860-1936) both born in Québec City and both members of Victoria Skating Club. In 1914-16 Christina paid taxes on 1301-1311 Gladstone Av.
1919-43: William Lucius Morkill CBE, LOH (b. Sherbrooke, QC 1856-1936) and Mary Josephine (née Wright, b. Newport, KY 1859-1943) married in St. Marylebone, ENG in 1888. He studied engineering in Sherbrooke and in 1885 established a successful railway business in Argentina. In 1901 he went to Mexico as manager of British-owned Interoceanic Railroad, between Mexico City and Veracruz, and later managed Mexico-Southern. He moved to Peru in 1907 as representative of the British syndicate that ran the country’s railroads. He worked with British Secret Service and Red Cross during WWI for which he received his CBE. He also aided French interests in Peru and was honoured by France in 1912. They retired here in 1919 and he was an active member of the Union Club. Their son Capt. Francis Edward Morkill, CEF was WIA three times. He was 26 when he was KIA during Battle of the Somme in 1916. His nephew, Capt. Alan Brooks Morkill, MC+Bar and wife Nellie Mara lived at 750 Pemberton Rd 1927-56.
1943-47: Retired building contractor David Arthur Chester Girvin (1882-1963) and Lucy Maude (née Bullis, 1885-1964) came from Winnipeg in 1943.
1948: Ethel Unwin (née Coughlan, b. Campbellton, PEI 1885-1982) was proprietor of Rockland Court, a five-suite apartment at 1503 Rockland Av (now 638 Rockland Pl). She was a housekeeper when she married Walter James Unwin (b. ENG 1880-1951) in Vancouver in 1921. She worked for many years as a maid in Vancouver’s Devonshire Apt Hotel, and was listed as head housekeeper on her death certificate.
1949-78: Lt-Cmdr Robert Pillin Besant, RCN (b. Croydon, ENG 1893-?) and Frances Olive (née Kirk, b. Bootle, Lancs, ENG 1890-1978) married in West Derby, Lancs, ENG in 1921 and came here in 1938. A marine engineer and constructor officer, he was Superintendent at VMD in the early years of WWII. As a musician, Robert played oboe with the Victoria Symphony and often conducted the all-amateur Victoria Philharmonic Orchestra. Frances played the viola in the Quintette Orchestra. Robert pre-deceased her; she lived in the house until her death.