Heritage Register
Burnside
3140 Balfour Avenue (ex-Emma St.)
Built:
1914
Heritage-Designated 2013
For: Charles & Kate Cousins
ARCHITECTURE:
This Craftsman Bungalow was built for $2,700 in
1914 at the end of Victoria’s housing boom which collapsed
with the onset of World War I. The roof is side-gabled with
an unusual slight curve flowing over the front verandah.
The centrally-located dormer above the verandah has
three windows; the rear has a similar but smaller dormer
and a box bay. The dormers have gabled roofs with three
supporting chunky knee brackets below bargeboards with
clipped ends. The side gables are similarly designed. On the
left side is a cantilevered, shed-roofed box bay below two
windows in the gable. To the right of the bay is an external,
corbelled, exterior wall chimney with piano windows on
either side. The right side has two windows in the gable and
a wide hall window to the right of the front door.
The verandah roof is supported by two heavy arches
on each end; a front arch with stepped ends spans the entire
width of the verandah. All arches are supported at the corners
on two heavy brick piers. The verandah balustrade, and the
slightly-splayed front step balustrades and newel posts,
are of solid brick. All the brickwork on the house uses
clinker bricks, which
are a feature of many
Craftsman Arts & Crafts
houses. Although the
steps are centrally-located,
the front door and
its sidelights are off-set
to the right. The piano
and hall windows and the
sidelights are all of distinctive
leaded art glass.
The exterior cladding is
shingle on the dormers
and basement level, with
bevelled siding on the
main floor. The round
columns are not original
and detract from the
elegant verandah.
ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
1914-19:
Charles Cousins
(b. Victoria, BC,
1886-1919) and
Kate Eleanor (née
Simpson, b. London,
ENG, 1886-1918).
Kate came to Victoria in 1904 and was employed as a candy
maker with Dominion Candy Co, 806 Yates St when she
married Charles in June 1914. About 1909-10, Charles, a
cabinetmaker, and his older brother Leonard formed the
Cousins Brothers Sash & Door Manufacturers on Garbally
Rd. Charles was actively involved in the North Ward Athletic
Assoc. In 1918 Charles and Kate spent the summer in
the Yukon. They arranged to return to Victoria in October
on the SS Princess Sophia. At the last minute Charles was
detained and he missed the boat. The boat ran aground in
Lynn Canal near Juneau, Alaska, and all 343 persons on
board lost their lives in the worst maritime disaster in British
Columbia and Alaska history. Charles spent eight days
searching for his wife but her body was never recovered.
He died two months later at his home on Balfour Av at the
age of 33, a victim of pneumonia and the Spanish Influenza
epidemic that swept through the City. The Cousins’s
household furniture and effects were sold by the executors
at auction in the house on July 3, 1919, and the house was
offered for sale. However, it stood vacant for several years
after Charles’s death.
OTHER OCCUPANTS:
1923-35: William Brown Bruce (b. Dumbarton, SCT,
1891-1940) and Mabel Grace (née Waring, b. Victoria, 1896-
1964). Mabel’s parents had immigrated from Scotland in
1889 and married here in 1890. Her father William Waring
was a stationary engineer; by 1911 the family was living
on a farm near Red Deer, AB. Mabel returned to Victoria
and she and William were married by Rev. Campbell at
Breadalbane (1177 Fort St, Rockland) in 1913. William
Bruce’s family came to Canada in 1895. He was a plumber
and partner at the Dominion Plumbing & Heating Co, 733
Fort St. The Bruces lived in Victoria until their deaths.
1936-38: Charles A. and Catherine M. Jones, owners
of the Economy Steam Laundry at 607 John St.
1941-45: George Harrison Millard (b. Courtenay,
BC, 1900-1988) and Isabel Catherine (née MacMillan, b.
Nanaimo, BC, 1904-1980) met in Bevan, BC, the townsite
for Cumberland’s No.8 coal mine; they married in 1925 in
Nanaimo. George worked as a log scaler before becoming
a Pacific Lumber Inspection Bureau inspector; he retired
as an inspector of dam sites.
1946-66: Marie (b. Callan, IRL, 1879-1964), William
Henry (b. IRL, 1880-1966) and Susan Margaret (b. Callan,
IRL, 1883-1956) Mercier were siblings. William came to
Canada in 1904 and was followed by his sisters in 1912.
William worked in the shipyards. Marie and Susan worked
for 31 years as storekeepers at the Marie Mercier Confectionery,
2807 Cedar Hill Rd, before retiring in 1945.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:
• Map of Victoria Heritage Register Properties
• Burnside History
• Burnside Heritage Register
• This Old House, Victoria's Heritage Neighbourhoods,
Volume Three: Rockland, Burnside, Harris Green,
Hillside-Quadra,
North Park & Oaklands