Heritage Register
Fernwood

1815 Belmont Avenue

Built 1909
Heritage-Registered

For: Charles & Mary Sonley

Designer/Builders: Parfitt Brothers

ARCHITECTURE:

This is a 1½-storey Edwardian Vernacular Arts & Crafts house with the typical steep, front-gabled roof and two large gabled roof dormers. A cantilevered angled bay sits below the left dormer. The symmetrical upper front facade is bisected by a dentilated stringcourse above a shallow cantilevered box bay. The asymmetrical lower floor has a shallow cantilevered box bay on the left, a flat-roofed porch in the centre with square posts, and a deeply inset corner porch on the right with Classical columns. The front porch balustrade is based on Eastlake design. The gables and the foundation are shingled, the main floor has double-bevelled siding.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:
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1909-66: Bookkeeper Charles Ezra Sonley (b. Pine Dale, ON, 1876-1942) and Mary Elizabeth (née Ormiston, b. Halifax, NS, 1880-1976) arrived in Victoria in 1898 and 1905, respectively, and married in 1910. Charles was the manager of Island Construction & Development (902 Foul Bay Rd, Gonzales), which was in the hands of a liquidator by late 1913. He later worked with the provincial Land Settlement Board. During the development boom in 1912, the Sonleys purchased the lot at 1511 Vining, backing on to their property. In Mary’s name, they commissioned plans from L.W. Hargreaves, and hired contractors Alton and Brown to build a rental house.

The Sonleys were active in Metropolitan Methodist, later United Church. Mary was a 37-year-member of Women’s Canadian Club, and a life member of both the Women’s Missionary Society and British Bible Society. For 17 years she also worked in the bookkeeping department of the church. Mary lived in the house until 1966.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:

• Fernwood History

• Fernwood Heritage Register

• This Old House, Victoria's Heritage Neighbourhoods,
Volume One: Fernwood & Victoria West