Heritage Register
Fairfield

1440 Clifford Street

Built 1914-15
Heritage-Designated 2006

For: Moore & Whittington Lumber Co.

Builders: Moore & Whittington Lumber Co.

ARCHITECTURE:

This side-gabled, 1½-storey Craftsman Bungalow has a full width verandah under a large dormer containing a sleeping porch. The basement and the gables are shingled, the main floor has double-bevel siding. The roof has exposed rafter tails, wide bargeboards with prominently notched ends, and stout brackets supporting the eaves. The ends of the bargeboards have a curved block added to the upper edge giving the effect of up-swept eaves. The left side has a large box bay as well as a piano window with three art glass panels featuring a tulip motif. The main floor at the front has a box bay and a jog creating a slightly recessed entrance. The front door, which is flush and possibly not original, has an oval light and a transom above. The steps lead down from the centre, with a jog to the right and then to the front, and have plain solid shingled parapets. The two large corner supports of the verandah are clad in double-bevel siding while the smaller ones to each side of the steps are plain square posts. The sleeping porch above, which is entirely shingled, has plain arched openings at the front and each side. The rear also has a large dormer.  A shed roof with plain posts covers an open porch on the east side. The windows all around are double-hung sashes in single, double and triple groupings, and have multi-panes above, single panes below. The window trim is plain, but under all the sills are molded blocks and connecting mouldings that look distinctly old-fashioned. The brick chimney, located near the rear, is not a prominent feature.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

The Moore & Whittington Lumber Co built this house in 1914, and the first known resident in 1918 was F. Savage, who was on active service at the time. King Sorab (1873-1949) and Annie Louise (McColl, 1873-1963) Patrick lived here by 1920. King was a civil engineer born in Bombay, India, Annie in France. They came to Canada in 1906, and to Victoria by 1911. The Patrick family lived at this residence until 1931.

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

David Sutherland (1865-1957) and Charlotte Griffiths (Hunter, 1857-1946) Michell lived here from 1932-38. They were both born in India. David married his first wife, Eleanor Maude Gurney in 1889. They came to Canada in 1906, and Eleanor died in 1916. David married Charlotte in 1917 and they came to BC by 1928. David was a retired schoolteacher. The Michells left Vancouver Island for the mainland in the early 1940s.

Henry Charles (1896-1983) and Minnie Lifton lived here in the early 1940s. Henry was born in Cheshire, England, and Minnie in Durham, England. Henry served with the 7th Battalion, CEF in WWI, the RCAF in WWII. He was living in Smithers, BC, when he married 27-year-old Minnie Crombie in 1923. Henry was an office clerk.

Eva Annie Johnson, widow of Charles William, lived here from 1943-52. Born Eva Annie Butler in Lancaster, England, she married Tacoma, Washington-native Charles Johnson in Vancouver in 1919. He was a mattress maker at the time, and died at some point before 1943.