914 St. Charles Street

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: The Hon. Justice William Alfred Galliher (b. Bruce Co, ON 1860-1934), known in his youth as “Wild Bill,” lived in this house for most of his 25 years in BC. Bill went to Manitoba in the early 1880s and studied, then practised law. In 1884 he joined the Nile Expedition with the Canadian Voyageurs under Lord Wolseley. He was decorated with the Khedive’s star and medal, an award given to officers of the British Army who fought in the 1882 Egypt Rebellion and subsequent campaigns. Upon Bill’s return to Canada he practised law in Manitoba, then Lethbridge, AB before coming to BC. He was called to the BC Bar in 1897. He was elected an MP for Yale in 1900 and the Kootenay District in 1904. He retired from politics when appointed to the bench, where he remained until retiring in 1933. In 1907 Bill married Toronto-born Louise Margaret Brown (1880-1956). She remained in the house after Bill’s death until 1939.
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OTHER OCCUPANTS:

1940-43: Harold B. and Myrta G. Elworthy; Harold was the managing director of Straits Tow & Salvage.

1944-68: Quita Josephine March Nichol (née Moore b. London, ON 1875-1968), widow of The Hon. Walter Cameron Nichol (1866-1928) (1759 Rockland Av), Lt.-Gov. of BC. She came to BC in 1897, and Victoria in 1921. Her daughter, Maraquita Walters, was living in this house with Quita when she died in 1968. Maraquita moved to an apartment on Beach Drive in Oak Bay, and died in 1981 at 75.