Return to list of New Designations

652 Battery Street
Seaview
Built 1892
Designated 2010

Mary H. & George A. Campbell

This is the second oldest house on Battery St, and one of the most unusual in architectural details. This 2-storey, front-gabled house with central entry, enclosed eaves, two plain brick chimneys, and a small 1-storey wing on the left side is basically a Homestead form. However, from there on departures from that style predominate. Unusually for this period, the windows on the first floor and on the second floor sides are placed close to the corners. The windows themselves have an uncommon form – double sashes, with three panes over one above two panes side-by-side. The single-storey, shed-roofed porch with square supports, rather than extending across the entire front of the building (as is typical of the Homestead form), stops short at the right side and wraps around the left corner, where it projects into a front gable with a Queen Anne truss and spindlework. The house’s cladding is also typically Queen Anne, with drop siding on the first floor, shingling on the second, and stickwork over shingles in the gable (which has a finial).

George Campbell came to Victoria in 1889 and was a commission agent for manufacturers of a variety of goods including underwear, mens clothing, ladies and mens gloves and drygoods. Campbell was active with the Boy Scout movement, as Assistant Commissioner of the Wolf Cubs. The Campbell family moved to Vancouver in 1905. Mary was born in India, the daughter of Surgeon Major-Gen. Ward of Bombay. She died in Point Grey in 1927 at 70. George, born in Montreal, Quebec, died in 1928 at 73.

From 1910-12, William M. Platt and his daughter Hilda rented and paid the taxes. According to City Directories, the house was vacant several years during WWI, but Hilda and her mother Matilda were again living in the house in 1920 and Hilda was a bookkeeper. Matilda, born in Toronto, died that year at 52. In 1925 Hilda married Cecil Rose in Victoria. William Platt died in Victoria in 1935 at 89; also from Toronto, he was a railway mail clerk in BC for 20 years, and lived at the YMCA when he died.

Mary S. Crofton paid the taxes from 1912 to at least 1916, although it appears she never lived here. Born Mary Bullock in Chalfont St. Peter, England, she married farmer Ernest Crofton of Saltspring Island in 1901. They lived at Mote Cottage in Ganges when Mary died in 1948 at 79. Ernest, who was born in Dublin, Ireland, and served with the Royal Navy during WWI, returned to Ross-on-Wye, England, in 1948 and died there in 1962 at 83. Saltspring Island’s famous Harbour House was built by his brother.

This house had a string of renters over the next few years. In 1929-30 it was the home of Elizabeth Katy and Sydney A. Reynolds, who at that time was a clerk at Weiler Furniture. He later became a china and glass retailer of note, and Sydney Reynolds is still a prominent shop across from the Empress Hotel. Katy was born in Hampshire, England, and came here c.1929; they were living at Albert Head in Metchosin when she died in 1971 at 81. Sydney was born in Hampworth, England and was still living in Metchosin when he died in 1980 at 89.

The house was vacant during the worst years of the Great Depression in the early 1930s. From 1946, owners were Ernest and Amy Thomas. Like many retirees then and now, they came from Saskatchewan to a warmer climate. Ernest was a letter carrier in Saskatoon for 22 years. They still lived in the house when he died in 1959 at 81.

Return to list of New Designations