ARCHITECTURE:
Bannavern, a Tudor and Georgian Revival house, has a symmetrical front façade. It is 2½-storeys and has a multiple-hipped roof, wide eaves with modillions and two small, curve-roofed dormers. There is a deep extension towards the rear on each side. Heavy brick piers support the roof of the double-wide porte-cochère on the right side; the porte-cochère, now partly enclosed, has a balcony above. A double bank of five multi-leaded-light windows sits above the centrally-located main entry on the front. Either side of that are banks of three casements above angled bays. A wide belt course separates the roughcast stucco and half-timbering of the upper floor from the shingles of the main level. The shingles flare over the water table and stone foundation. There is a concrete-capped random stone wall and wrought iron fence. The 15-room house originally cost $14,000, but a 1994 renovation to create six condos cost $200,000.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1910-39: Hon. Justice William Alfred Galliher (b. Bruce Co, ON 1860-1934) married second wife Louise Margaret (née Brown, b. Toronto 1880-1956) in Detroit, MI, USA in 1907. He went to MB in the 1880s, studied then practised law. In 1884-85 as a Canadian voyageur, he took part in the British Nile contingent for relief of Khartoum under Gen. Garnet Wolselsey and was awarded the Khedive’s Star & Egypt Medal. He practised law in MB and Lethbridge, AB then came to BC and was called to the Bar in 1897. He was elected MP for Yale-Cariboo in 1900, Kootenay in 1904, earning his reputation as “Big Bill.” He retired from politics when appointed to the new BC Court of Appeal in 1910, retiring in 1933. Louise remained in the house. His son Cpl. Frank Townsend Galliher was KIA at the Battle for Vimy Ridge in 1915.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1940-43: Straits Tow & Salvage [now Seaspan] mng dir Harold Barrington Elworthy (b. Victoria 1901-1975) married Myrta Gladys (née McDonald, b. Victoria 1896-1997) in Sidney, BC in 1921. [Harold’s brother Robert lived at 65 Government St in 1920s. Sister Emily Barrington Elworthy owned Peggy Page Chocolates (615 Fort St, demo’d) in Victoria. She made chocolates in her kitchen, sending them to friends serving overseas; the packaging was exquisite.]
1944-68: Quita Josephine March Nichol (née Moore, b. London, ON 1875-1968), widow of BC Lt-Gov Hon. Walter Cameron Nichol (1759 Rockland Av), came to BC in 1897, here in 1921. Widowed daughter Maraquita Francis Cynthia Walters (née Nichol, b. Vancouver 1906-1981) lived with her mother when her mother died.