Heritage Register
James Bay

616 Avalon Road

Built 1907
Heritage-Designated 1993

For: Harriet & George Turner

Builder: Bertram Knights

ARCHITECTURE:

616 has been described under 614 Avalon. Both were constructed by Bert Knights, who signed the sewer connection application as owner.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

1907: Bertram Knights built 614 and 616 Avalon, beginning with 616 in 1907, and sold them to the Margisons and the Turners. Bert (1867-1953) was a self-employed general carpenter who came to Canada from England in the late 1890s and BC c.1903. A bachelor, he lived and worked mostly in Vancouver, and possibly built these two houses in Victoria because of the city’s development boom.

1907-52: The Turners came from New Zealand in 1905. George was born in Wellington in 1874, Harriet Boddy in Dunedin in 1872. George was a barber for 50 years until the day before his death in 1950. Before coming here, he had worked as a barber on a Pacific liner. He served during WWI, and was a member of Pro Patria Branch, Canadian Legion and Knights of Pythias Lodge, Far West No.1. Daughter Florence lived here until just before Harriet’s death in 1952. Florence, born in Sydney, Australia, in 1898, was an HBC sales clerk for 35 years. She died in 1965.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:

• James Bay History

• James Bay Heritage Register



• This Old House, Victoria's Heritage Neighbourhoods,
Volume Two: James Bay