Heritage Register
Fairfield

941 Meares Street
Dalhousie Bungalow

Built 1906
Heritage-Designated 1978

For: William Warburton

Architect: Samuel Maclure

ARCHITECTURE:

Dalhousie Bungalow is a miniature version of Maclure’s acclaimed “Maclure Chalet” at 1598 Rockland Av (Rockland), built two years earlier. Both are 1½ storeys and front-gabled, and have a shallow-pitched roof, an inset corner entry on the right façade balanced by a cantilevered square box bay on the left, a side gable, shingle cladding, and half-timbering in the gable. This house’s roof projects further over the gable, which has a finial. The entry porch is framed by Craftsman double square supports, and there are several handsome multiple double-sash windows with multi-paned leaded-glass upper sashes and a central stained-glass medallion over a single-paned lower sash.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

First owner William C. Warburton (1859-1922) lived here with his wife until 1909. He was a bookkeeper born in Lancashire, England, who came to Victoria in 1904.

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

William Christie (1863-1922) lived in this house from 1910 until shortly before his death. Born in Pictou County, NS, William was a CPR telegraph operator and later manager. He came to Victoria in 1885, and in 1898 married Annie Sinclair Holmes (c.1877-1904), also born in Pictou. She died while on a trip to Halifax, NS. William eventually became a partner in the firm of Ship Chandlers, Ltd. He died in 1922 on a trip to Auckland, New Zealand.

After Christie’s death, various people lived here, including David G. Andrews in 1924, followed by engineer William M. Cathels in 1926.
Harold Eric (1879-1957) and Gertrude (Gosney, 1884-1956) Landman bought this house c.1929 and resided here for a number of years. The Landmans came to Canada from England in 1911. Harold was a public servant with the BC Government, and later a barrister. He left this house shortly after Gertrude died in 1956.

In 1985 owners Tom Palfrey and Tom Putnam won a Hallmark Society Award for their restoration of this house.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:

• Statement of Significance (Canadian Register of Historic Places)

• GIS Map of Victoria's Heritage Register Properties

• Fairfield History

• Fairfield Heritage Register



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