Heritage Register
North Park

1029 Queens Avenue

Built 1921
Heritage-Registered

For: Elizabeth Street Gunn

ARCHITECTURE:

This is a symmetrical, two-storey, front-gabled duplex with two matching, engaged lower gables over the entrance porch and a cantilevered box bay. Front-facing stairs with metal rails lead to the recessed porch, which gives access to two entry doors. The pair of matching wooden doors have three inset, narrow, vertical lights above a ledge supported on three chunky brackets. The porch roof is supported by pairs of square posts on large battered, stuccoed piers which sit on the ground. There is a small, multi-paned window in the apex of the gable, and two paired windows below the string course on the upper floor. Craftsman-style triangular knee brackets decorate the gables at the apex and toward the lower ends of the bargeboards. Other Craftsman-style elements include the doors and open eaves with exposed rafter tails. On the right side towards the front on both levels are pairs of wooden, diamond-paned awning windows. Original siding is covered in asbestos on top and aluminum below.

North Park’s proximity to downtown, and its variety of local schools, churches, parks and recreation, made the neighbourhood an appealing area for densification. 1029 Q is an early purpose-built duplex, emblematic of the pent-up demand for rental housing following WWI.

ORIGINAL OWNERS:

Owners: 1921-42: Elizabeth Street Gunn (née Street, b. ON 1864-1933), dressmaker and independent businesswoman, developed a number of properties in Victoria and Oak Bay including in 1913 a grocery store and apts at 1027 (pg?????) and a duplex 1023-1025; she lived in 1023 in 1914. She married grocer/bookkeeper John Gunn (b. Wick, SCT 1863-1931) in 1891, had son Lafayette (b. Victoria 1892-1964); she and John separated by 1908. Lafayette married Thelma Klutz in 1913 and owned the property after Elizabeth’s death.

Selection of Tenants: 1925: Victoria City Dairy driver Reginald Dove and his son Reginald Jewison Dove (b. Raynder, WAL 1906-1975), a draughtsman in architect J.C.M. Keith’s office.

1928: Happy Valley Freight Service manager John Marshall Scoular (b. Midcalder, SCT 1886-1970) and Jemima (née Sutherland, b. SCT 1886-1968).

1929-30: CPO Jonathan Martin Utterbridge, RCN (b. Camb, ENG 1897-1968) and dressmaker and designer Signe Christine (née Sword, b. Smoland, SWE c.1895-?) married here in 1928.

1930-32: Cecil John Freeborn (b. Melita, MB 1896-1966) and Lois Mildred (née Gamey, b. Osprey, ON 1901-1983); Cecil was a student in agriculture when he signed his WWI attestation papers in 1916, later a truck driver and hotel desk clerk.

1933-34: Brothers Francois Dufleit (b. Brittany, FRA 1899-1990) and Pierre Marie Dufleit (b. Brittany, FRA 1904-1977), and their wives Marguerite Marcelle (née Parrot, b. Seloncourt, FRA 1904-1996) and Anne Marie (née Le Solliec 1908-1991) arrived in Canada in 1923.

1935-36: Plasterer Alfred James Ferguson (b. Victoria 1909-?) and Montreal Trust manager Joseph Richard Short (b. Victoria 1904-1971) married the Brown sisters from Liverpool, ENG Jessie (1907-1991) and Ethel (1905-1954).

1938-39: Dockyard transport worker James Robert Warburton (b. Leicester, ENG 1910-1995) and Norah (née Read, b. Ladysmith, BC 1909-1985) married in Esquimalt in 1937.

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

1943-45: Machinist Roy Moir (b. Durham, ENG 1901-1955) and telephone operator Margaret Fleming (née Raeside, b. Glasgow, SCT 1902-1982) rented to RCN personnel and their wives during WWII.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:

• Map of Victoria Heritage Register Properties

• North Park History

• North Park Heritage Register

• This Old House, Victoria's Heritage Neighbourhoods,
Volume Three: Rockland, Burnside, Harris Green,
Hillside-Quadra, North Park & Oaklands