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416 Luxton Avenue
Built 1899
Designated 2010

James and Esther Noble

This is a side-gabled Queen Anne cottage with a matching front-gabled extension. The three gables are distinguished by their curved stickwork.
An angled bay on right front has a flat roof and considerable applied decoration, including recessed panels with vertical and diagonal tongue & groove boards. The two-thirds-width front-porch protrudes at the front left. The porch is likely a later addition with a modern attempt at matching the gable stickwork.  A typical shed-roof kitchen extension is seen at the rear. Concrete brackets on rear left side suggest an early or original side verandah, and an orphaned pent roof shows where an original sash window was replaced with a larger picture window. There’s a small “modern” extension on left rear. A single central chimney is missing its corbelling. Corner-boards and window trim also exhibit remains of distinctive applied half-round decoration though some of this is missing or poorly replicated. The house at 101 Oswego Street is a good example of a similar house retaining its original detail. Front windows have been replaced with vinyl; the front porch pillars have been replaced with plain square wood posts; the front door and front porch railings are modern metal.

This house was built for James and Esther Noble, who lived here until about 1903, but owned the house for several years after that as Esther was listed as the owner when the house was plumbed in 1905. James Noble (c.1862-1906) was a fisherman born in New Haven, Scotland. He came to Canada in 1889 and in 1891 married Esther Flucker, also of Scotland. By 1903 Esther was living at 164 Chatham, and James may have already gone to Vancouver, where he died in 1906. He was interred at Ross Bay Cemetery.

Over the next 25 years, various tenants occupied this house. Mining engineer Henry E. Leave lived here in 1905-06, followed by marine engineer William Oliver, who lived here 1908-09. Frank and Jane Giolma lived here in 1910-11, likely while their house at 35 Olympia (James Bay) was being built. James Black, proprietor of the James Bay Dairy, lived here in 1914. Frederick Sargent, owner of a shoe repair shop on Humboldt, lived here in the early-1920s. This house was vacant during the mid-1920s.

By 1931, John Charles William (1872-1963) and Susan Jane (Smith, 1869-1938) May had bought the house; they lived here until about 1940. John was a recently retired bricklayer. The next owners were John and Eliza Whiteley, who lived here in the early-1940s.
  
John (1872-1952) and Ann Eliza (Highfield, 1879-1961) Whitelegg bought this house by 1946 and lived here for several years. Born in Manchester, England, John and Ann came to Victoria c.1938. John was a retired janitor and a member of the IOOF. Ann left the house after John died in 1952.

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