Heritage Register
James Bay

565 Michigan Street
(ex-56 Michigan St)

Built 1875
Heritage Covenant

For: John Wilson

ARCHITECTURE:

This Victorian, side-gabled, vernacular workers’ cottage is symmetrical. It features pairs of tall, narrow, double-hung sashes on the front and the two sides. It has a full-width front verandah beneath a bellcast hipped roof supported on curved rafters. The bracketed, panelled porch posts are separated by a simple balustrade. The panelled front door has sidelights and a tall multi-paned transom. Two different types of chimney pots now adorn the double-flue brick chimney. The gables on either side have round louvred vents in their apices. The house, clad in asphalt siding for decades, now has bevelled siding. The foundation is of rubble stone. At the rear is a shed-roofed extension, now connected to a side-gabled addition. The front façade is similar to 428 Superior St.James Bay.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

Owners: 1875-83: Improvements on tax rolls for this property begin in 1876 for John Wilson, a clerk at Brown & White, dry goods importers.

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

1884-93: Dr. Israel Wood Powell (b. Port Colborne, ON 1839-1915) and Jennie Branks (b. NZ c. 1845-1928) used this as a rental property. Israel arrived in Victoria in 1862. Jennie moved to San Francisco with her parents, came to Victoria in 1863 and married in 1865. After Confederation in 1871, Israel, a Freemason, gave up medicine, declined a position in the Senate, and was appointed Indian Commissioner. Jennie helped found the Ladies’ Musical Club and Alexandra Club. She was a member of the Shakespeare Club, founded by Lady Joly de Lotbiniere, the Literary Club, founded by Lady Beaumont, the Lady Douglas Chapter of IODE, and St. John’s Church. 1894-1903: Sun Life Assurance Co.

Tenants: 1890-c.92: accountant and collector George Arthur Perrin (b. IRL c.1849) and Isabella (b. IRL c.1859).

1897-1901: Thomas Brown, bottler at Morley’s soda works in Waddington Alley.
1902-04: James Lissett(e) (b. ENG c.1843-1922) and Sophia (née Woodbridge, Williams, b. ENG c.1846-1903) came here in 1860 and 1865, respectively, and married in 1873. James, a painter and decorator, and a member of IOOF, retired in 1913.
1909-12: Thomas Barden (b. c.1873-1942) and Constance Annie (née Kerby, c.1876-1962) moved here from their birthplace of Tunbridge Wells, ENG, in 1907. Thomas was a butcher, then a gardener for Oak Bay golf club.

Owners: 1913-c.16: William Turpel (b. NS c.1843-1926) and Elizabeth Ann (née McLaren, b. NS c.1847-1926) came here in the late 1870s. William, a shipbuilder, developed Clark & Turpel’s Shipyard at Point Hope. When sons Samuel and Emerson joined the business, it became Turpel Marine Railway Shipyard from 1888-1928. In 1938, it became known as Point Hope Shipyards.

c.1917-24: George Petherbridge (b. ENG c.1877-1962) and Susan (née Hanrahan, b. ENG c.1886-1958) moved to Victoria in 1903 and 1908, respectively, and married in 1911. Susan was a member of the Catholic Women’s League of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish. George served with the 7th Battalion during WWI. In 1911 George was a receiving clerk at the Empress Hotel, by 1928 a janitor at Royal Jubilee Hospital, and retired in 1955. He was a member of Pro Patria Branch, Canadian Legion, and Royal Jubilee Hospital Employees Association.

1927-28: Widow Daisy Moss (née Vinall, b. Brighton, ENG 1885-1969). 1929-30: Widow Charlotte Rose Sharp remarried in 1939 to Swedish fisherman Oscar Ludvicson.
1931-34: Charles and Ethel Ball (see 131-133 South Turner St, James Bay).
1935-45: William John Munroe (b. ENG c.1870-1945), a decorator, moved to Victoria in the early 1920s; he never married. 1935-41: Mowgli Hall at the rear.
1946: Canadian Red Cross Hall.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:

• James Bay History

• James Bay Heritage Register



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