ARCHITECTURE:
This impressive 2½ storey, stuccoed house has many Classical design elements. It has a complex multi-hipped roofline with multiple chunky modillions in the eaves; the edges of the steep roof are slightly curved as they meet the gutters. There are flat-roofed dormers all around the house, only two of which are original. The entrance façade on the right has a tall, central, hipped extension with a second-storey Palladian window over the porte-cochère; the entry porch is under the porte-cochère. Two large wings flank the central extension. To the right of the portecochère, the small angled entry porch, now enclosed, has a roundel above.
The garden façade on the left has a centrally-located Palladian dormer and hip-roofed entry. To the right is a single-storey, wide, angled bay with a balcony above. In the corner to the right of this is a balcony over the conservatory. All the balustrades on the house are stuccoed, as are the two tall, wide chimneys, which were originally brick.
The house has been sensitively converted to three strata-titled units. The only obvious clues are the clerestory addition to the roof, a heavy rear stairway, and the extra dormers which have been added to increase living space.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1920-28: Wealthy shipbuilder Harry Frederick Bullen (1868-1924) (1007 Joan Cr, Rockland, 908 St. Charles St) paid $14,000 for this eight-bedroom house. His widow Margaret moved to Europe, where she died in 1934.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
Tenants: 1929-30: Capt. William Hobart Molson, MC (b. Montréal, 1888-1951). Proprietor of Molson’s Bank for eight years, he retired in 1922 and came here in 1926 with wife, Catherine Deslesderniers (née Shepherd, b. NY 1891-1926). He served as Aide-de-Camp to Lt. Gov. R. Randolph Bruce 1926-1931, marrying his niece Margaret Bruce “Madge” (née MacKenzie, 1903-1982) in 1931. In 1930 Molson commissioned Percy Leonard James to design 1663 Rockland (extant) where they lived until moving to 925 Foul Bay Rd in 1950.
1932-35: James Alexander Wattie (b. Valleyfield, QC 1866-1939), Man Dir, China Mutual Life Ins Co, in 1900 established J.A. Wattie & Co. Wheelchair bound after a polo accident in Shanghai, he and wife Fanny (née Purkis) returned to England in 1912 where she died in 1923. He returned to Canada in 1931 and was looked after by his butler and Asian servants. He loved to see the children at Hallowe’en and is fondly remembered for giving those who performed for him a dollar bill. He moved to the Uplands in 1935 and continued this tradition.
1936-38: Bullens’ daughter Roseanne Norah (b. Victoria 1916-1995) married James Wattie’s adopted son Ronald Purkis Wattie (b. London, ENG 1910-1990), an agent for Monarch Life, c.1938. They sold the house c.1940 to Gainsboro Apts Ltd, and it was converted to apartments, which remained vacant.
1941-61: Princess Chirinsky-Chikhmatoff, formerly Jennie MacLaughlan Ross (née Butchart, b. Owen Sound, ON 1885-1971), eldest daughter of Jennie Foster (née Kennedy, b. Toronto, ON 1868-1950) and Robert Pim Butchart (b. Owen Sound, ON 1856-1943), creators of The Butchart Gardens (TBG), bought the vacant house and converted it to six suites 1944-45. She came here in 1906, married Harry Allan Ross (b. Port Hope, ON 1878-1930) in 1917 and lived at Blair Gowrie at 2031 Runnymede Av, Oak Bay. She married the impoverished Russian aristocrat, Prince André Chirinsky-Chikhmatoff (b. St. Petersburg, RUS 1904-1999) in 1933 in Toronto. Their marriage ended when he moved to New York. She was a patron of musicals. theatre and the AGGV (1040 Moss St). She and sister Mary were active in the management of TBG and in 1950 Jennie opened the first commercial tearoom there, serving crumpets and marmalade for 25 cents.
Parents Jennie and Robert Butchart also lived at 906 St. Charles from c.1941 until their deaths. Bob Butchart founded BC Cement Co in Todd Inlet on the Saanich Peninsula in 1904, supplying cement to all new construction in BC at the time. Jennie worked with her husband as a chemist for the company. After moving out to live on the company property (1737 Rockland Av), Jennie began developing TBG in 1906. Princess Chikhmatoff’s only child Robert “Ian” Ross (b. Victoria 1917-1997) inherited TBG at 21, and ran it until his death. Ian’s son Christopher Ross (b. BC 1944-2000) developed and designed the weekly summer fireworks show from 1977 until his death; Ian’s daughter Robin Clarke (née Ross) now runs TBG, a National Historic Site since 2006.
1951-72: The Princess’s sister Mary, who married William Todd here in 1910 and lived at 944 St. Charles St, moved into an apartment in 906 St Charles. In 1961 Princess Chikhmatoff moved to 1069 Beach Dr in Oak Bay with son Ian and wife Ann-Lee (b. Chicago 1921-2007). Mary Todd, the last Butchart to occupy this house, died here in 1972.