Heritage Register
Fernwood

1609 Gladstone Avenue

Built 1911
Heritage-Designated 1989

For: Mary & Nels Foxgord

Designer: Stanley Foxgord
Builders: Nels, Stanley, Alfred & Leslie Foxgord

ARCHITECTURE:

This is another fine example of a 1½-storey, cross-gabled Edwardian Vernacular Arts & Crafts house. The right side has a roof dormer with an offset box bay below. Beyond the box bay on the right is an enclosed back porch. On the left side is a gabled through-the-roof dormer above a cantilevered angled bay. All the gables have finials. The shingles in the apex of the front gable flare out over the stringcourse, forming the roof of a shallow bracketed box bay. There is a small diamond window on either side of the box bay. Below the beltcourse is a wide angled bay with leaded and stained glass transoms above the centre window. An inset corner entry porch to the right has two square posts supported on a solid balustrade. The wide front-facing steps have low sloped balustrades. An iron railing down the centre of the stairs, similar in design to the front gate, meets building code requirements. The tops of the gables and the basement level are shingled, the rest of the cladding is bullnosed double-bevelled siding. The foundation is scored concrete. The property has a low random-rubble granite perimeter wall with raised stones and raised pointing. The front gate and that around the corner at Alfred Foxgord’s house at 1917 Shakespeare, built by his brother Stan, were made from Craigdarroch Castle’s wrought-iron railings, which were removed in 1912.*

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

1911-82: Nels Rasmussen Foxgord (Fogsgaard) (b. Herskind, Denmark 1863-1953) and Emma “Mary” (née Bailey, b. Peterborough, ENG, 1873-1964) met in San Francisco, when Nels was a dance instructor. Mary’s father thought the dance profession rather unstable, and persuaded Nels to join him in the plumbing business. The families moved to Hawaii, but were expelled in 1902 for helping in the attempt to restore Queen Lilliuokalani to the throne. They came to Victoria and Nels and their three sons built this house in 1911.

Nels Foxgord operated a plumbing business at 1608 Douglas. By 1917 son Alfred was a partner, but he died young. Son Leslie De Lesseps apprenticed as a plumber, but became the operator of the Empress Theatre, which he changed to the Atlas, and worked as a projectionist until the day before his death in 1963 at 70. Son Stanley Edwin (1892-1982) was for many years a carpenter, then a mechanic, a farmer and a miner. He continued to live in the house.

From 1927-51+ Mary Foxgord was proprietor of the Nelson Apartments at 1251 Pandora Av. Nels had retired in 1937. The family hosted the first meeting of Seventh Day Adventists in Victoria in this house. It was Mary’s residence until 1963 and Stan’s until his death.

*Craigdarroch information from research by Bruce Davies & Peter Scott

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:

• Fernwood History

• Fernwood Heritage Register


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