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Hallmark Society
#18 Centennial Square
Victoria, BC V8W 1P7
Phone/fax: (250) 382-4755
office@hallmarksociety.ca
1082 Richmond Road
1082 Richmond Road - Collaborative Research Yields Results
(From Preserve, Autumn 2009)
(Click here for photos)
In January 2009, the Hallmark Society Board first became aware of a threat to the building at the corner of Richmond Road and Oak Bay Avenue. However, a review of our files revealed very little information. It came to our attention again on June 21, when an article entitled “Developer want to raze rental building from 1800s” appeared in the Times Colonist. Victoria’s new Planning and Land Use Committee was going to recommend against a plan to bulldoze the rental apartment to make way for new condos. Although the proposal met existing zoning requirements, Abstract Developments Inc. needed a development permit in order to demolish the building. It was not officially recognized as “heritage” on any City list. Planning staff recommended the permit be issued, but Councillor Pam Madoff noted: “I think it’s going to be a really sad day for Victoria when the only buildings with heritage value that are recognized are ones that are on the registry or have heritage designation. This is an extremely rare building in this part of town. There are very few buildings from the 1800s.”
On June 26,
we learned that council had voted against issuing the development
permit. Councillor Lynn Hunter commented that “We’re not hired to make
the easy decisions – we’re hired to make the hard ones.”
Although
we knew that the building had been used briefly - 1908-1909 – as
University School, the precursor to today’s St Michael University
School, we still knew little about the history of this intriguing
building. Board members then began to conduct research. From John Perry
we learned that the Bennett family was resident in the location as
early as 1892. John T. Bennett is listed as a sail maker, later to be
recognized as a master mariner. He died in 1896, but Mrs. Bennett
remained in the house. Ken Johnson provided several advertisements from
the newspaper, beginning with May 12, 1895 which stated in part: “To
let – furnished rooms, use of sitting room and bathroom. … Mrs.
Bennett, corner Richmond and Oak Bay Roads. Terms moderate.” By June 2,
1901, she is advertising for “one double and two single rooms with
board. Bath room with hot and cold water.” In June 1902, we learn that
“Mrs. Bennett, formerly of Oak Bay and Richmond Avenue, has re-opened
her boarding house at 69 Superior Street, where she can take a limited
number of boarders.” By 1903, the whole house was being offered as a
“12-roomed house with modern conveniences, with one-acre of land and
orchard, to be leased for one year” at the princely sum of $25 per
month.
At this point we asked our members for help. Our
message read in part: “What we don’t have is information regarding the
buildings used after the University School left it. What we do need to
do is gather further information so as to make a good case regarding
the values of the building as a heritage structure important to
Victoria.
From the time of construction, we feel it has
some values as demonstrating the movement towards an early suburban
home development as a result of the electric railway moving out Fort St
and subsequently Oak Bay Avenue in 1891 and 92. We are sure there are
many homes in the area were constructed as these lands became more
accessible and commuting by public transportation became more readily
available to the citizens of Victoria. But, who lived in the building
after 1909? Are there other values associated with this building that
we can communicate to the City council and the planning department so
that they would more readily recognize the importance of this building
and its future protection?”
Further research determined
many details. John Edwards researched the purchase details at the BC
Assessment Authority. Helen Edwards discovered that the 1903 fire
insurance map shows only 3 buildings on this corner - the other two
have Oak Bay Avenue addresses. This was confirmed by directory
searches. Neither of the other 2 houses remain, having been replaced by
square blocks.
Both John Thomas Bennett and his wife Hattie
V. Bennett were born in New Brunswick. They had 4 children - Francis,
Allen M., Margaret, and Frank A. Their infant son Frank Allison Bennett
died at 8 months, 23 days on September 8, 1891 and is buried in Ross
Bay Cemetery. The news of his death was carried in the Saint John New
Brunswick Evening Gazette. Captain Bennett died December 19, 1896, of
cancer and is buried at Hatley Park. His funeral was reported in the
Victoria Daily Colonist as having taken place at the residence on
Richmond Avenue.
After John’s death, Hattie obviously
rented out rooms to boarders as the 1901 census shows, in addition to
Hattie, her son Allan M and daughter Margaret, 6 boarders. They were
Mary J Nisbet, Louise Carpenter, Marthe Linkham, Mrs. Moffatt, Rosalind
Watson, and Henry Dunnell. The same 6 boarders appear at this address
on the 1902 City Directory, while Hattie is listed on Superior Street.
The Bennetts moved to California. They took a ship from Victoria
to San Francisco in Sept 1903. They subsequently left few traces,
but Allen appears in the US census of 1910, married with an infant son,
Allen Jr. He is an oil worker in Fresno. In 1932 he was
admitted to an old soldiers home in Los Angeles, his health seemingly
broken at the age of 44. He earned his admission by service in
the US Army in 1917-1919.
BC Ladies College is on this site
in 1905-06 and, by 1908, University School (Reverend William Bolton,
principal). We know in 1909 that University School had moved to the
present Mount Tolmie campus.
In 1909, the building is
listed in directories as “vacant,” while in 1911 the resident is Daniel
Green, musician. The next owner was William Thomas Preston who operated
a transfer business. He was born on May 3, 1871, in Wellington County,
Ontario, the son of Alex Preston, a waggon maker, and his wife
Elizabeth Freeborn. By 1891, the family had moved to Mineota, Manitoba.
By 1901, William had married Elizabeth and is sharing the household
with his cousin Luella A Freeborn. He is listed as a farmer. By 1906, a
son Verde Lawrence, had joined the family. The 1911 census shows the
family moved to Victoria with a daughter, Willetta, added to the
family. He retained ownership of 1082 Richmond Road until 1921, when
the property is shown as “vacant” for several years.
In
1927, H. Mitchell purchased the property and renamed it Richmond Court.
There were 4 suites. By 1929, Mrs. Harriet Peel is shown as owner and,
in 1931, G Stanley Freestone, an engineer. Also, in this year, there is
a new listing for a janitor, A Henry Mitchell. Of interest was one
tenant, Keith Dorman, long known in Victoria for his association with
Dorman Clothiers in downtown Victoria. Mark Anderson is
working on tracing the building history past 1930.
This
shows what a group of people can do. As a result, we can say
conclusively that building is, indeed, built in the 1890s and is a rare
survivor of its type in a area where most of the building sites now are
occupied by modern condos and apartment blocks. It represents a link to
early Victoria, through its links to schools and early transportation
routes, and also illustrates the movement of Canadians westward to seek
new opportunities.