Heritage Register
Fairfield

650 Linden Avenue

Built 1910-13
Heritage-Registered

For: Brenton & Sarah Boulton
Contractor: T.S. (or S.E.) Matthew

ARCHITECTURE:

This 2-storey Edwardian Foursquare is prominently sited on a corner lot. The low-pitched bellcast hipped roof with wide, boxed eaves has a single matching front dormer. There is an exterior grey brick chimney on the north wall. The first storey is clad in double-bevel beaded siding; the upper in stucco with half-timbering. A double-width belt course separates the upper floors. Concrete block is used on the basement, flared stair balustrade, gateposts and the low garden wall. The front façade of the main floor is asymmetrical, with a box bay on one side balanced by the wraparound corner porch. Five Tuscan columns on a solid balustrade support the flat-roofed porch. The inset corner entry has two small windows and a partially glazed side-facing door. There are additional box bays on both sides of the house. Leaded art glass is featured in the half-round window beside the porch, sidelights, transoms and several other windows. Most windows are double-hung with replacement aluminum sashes. The house has been rehabilitated and converted to multiple units with several additional balconies and entries, while retaining most of its original features.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

This house was built for Brenton John Hamer Boulton (1871-1963), who lived here with his wife Sarah Elizabeth (Russell, 1872-1948) and her parents John and Elizabeth, until 1912. Brenton was an interior decorator born in Halifax, NS, who lived in Toronto before coming to BC. Sarah was a music teacher and native of Yorkshire, England. She came to Canada with her parents in 1883 and married Brenton in 1901 in Victoria. Brenton moved to Vancouver several years after Sarah died.

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

Donald Sinclair McCannel (1857-1947) had just arrived in Victoria in 1913 when he bought this house and lived here with his wife Margery (O’Neil, 1861-1958) and children until 1924 when the family moved to Vancouver. Natives of Ontario, they may have lived in Regina, SK, before coming to BC.

Margaret Cameron Tasker (Young, 1873-1964) lived here from 1926-35. She had been married to William Hood Tasker (1877-1924) for about four months when he died suddenly. Margaret was born in Perthshire, Scotland, and lived in Victoria for about 40 years.

School teacher John S. White and his wife Kathleen lived here in 1937. Widow Helen Ferguson bought the house in 1939 and by 1941 it was sold to retired couple Chris and Mary Kerr. Alice Isobel Augustine (Spence, 1871-1951), widow of LeVerne Augustine, was a tenant here for several years. The house was converted to the Grange Apartments c.1943.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:

• Fairfield History

• Fairfield Heritage Register



• This Old House, Victoria's Heritage Neighbourhoods,
Volume Four: Fairfield, Gonzales & Jubilee