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Heritage Register
Rockland

1064 Beverley Place

Built 1912
Heritage-Registered

For: Frank Burrell

Architect: Percy Leonard James

1064 Beverley

ARCHITECTURE:

This Georgian Revival-style, roughcast-stuccoed house, designed by Percy Leonard James, with its flared, hipped and ridged roof, is located on a quiet cul-de-sac on the northeast edge of Rockland. Its symmetrical front façade is dominated by “a half-domed porch roof supported by two classical columns and two pilasters.”* The Doric columns and pilasters are fluted. The porch roof is of galvanized iron. Nine steps with flared iron banisters lead up to the front entrance. The panelled front door includes a window with a curved top, and two side-lights, all with leaded art glass. “The house still has the original stuccoed gate piers with wrought iron [work] overhead and a stuccoed garden wall. A summer house designed for the original garden has disappeared.”* The iron-work is continued in the fence railings and chimney supports.

This house has many features of the Georgian Revival. Though rare in Victoria, it has an affinity with 1325 Franklin Tc (1912), 1130 Woodstock Av (date unknown), and 955 Joan Cr (c.1921). Traditional features include the simple box form, the symmetrical layout of windows and doors, the dominant entry, fluted pilasters on each side of the front door assembly, door sidelights, paired upper windows with wooden muntins. Two matched, shallow box bays on either side of the entry have leaded multipane-over-one windows. The right side of the house has two high large art glass windows on either side of the chimney. The left side has a square conservatory at the rear, now with a deck on its roof.There is a small flat-roofed dormer on the rear. The four tall parged exterior chimneys suggest many fireplaces originally. The house was divided into four suites in 1941, each unit with a fireplace. The external chimneys, visible from the street, have shoulders; the rear chimneys are plain.

In 2010 the garage of 1064 was demolished to allow for the construction of a new house on the left. In 2014 this house was undergoing a major rehabilitation that included additional dormers.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

1912-23: The house was built for Frank and Kate Burrell in 1912 at a cost of $9,000. It’s likely that Frank named the cul-de-sac after his birthplace. Until the late 1930s, 1064 was the only address on Beverley Place. Frank Burrell (b.Beverley, Yorkshire, ENG 1861- 1928) and Kate Amelia (née Berry,b. London, ENG 1861-1925) came to Victoria c.1891 and married here that year. Prior to living on Beverley Pl, the Burrells resided at Summerdyne (demolished) on Oak Bay Av near Monterey with their six children and domestic servants.

Frank Burrell was associated from 1891 with the real estate firm Pemberton & Son where he rose to the position of manager. In 1923 the Burrells moved to Hampton Court Apts at 159 Cook St, Fairfield. The Burrells were members of Christ Church Cathedral, and Frank had been rector’s warden. At the time of his death Frank was living at 4 Richmond Court.

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

1924-29: Edward Henry Rider (b. Bristol, ENG 1871- 1953) and Catherine Smythe (née Cunningham. b. Edinburgh, SCT 1871-1955) lived here with their daughters Vera Jane and Ruth, both nurses, and son Hugh Macewan Rider, a clerk at Pemberton & Son. Edward, a storekeeper at Yarrows, retired as superintendant of stores in 1945 after 30 years with the shipyard. The Riders were living in Vancouver when they died.

1930-32: Widow Winnifred Ethel Napier Macleod (née Jessop, b. London, ENG c.1888) had married Capt. George Ranald Macleod (b. Glasgow, SCT 1883-1928) in 1913. He was a captain in the 16th Queen’s Lancers of the British Imperial Army, the youngest son of Sir George H.B. Macleod of Shandon, SCT, and had immigrated to Canada in 1908. From 1919-28, the Macleods had lived in Rhu, on Gordon Head Rd in Saanich. Winnifred lived in 1064 Beverley until her remarriage in 1932, to divorced artist Walter Robert Rose.

1933-37: Dr. Thomas Wesley Alvin Gray (b. Millbrook, ON 1897-1986) and Eleanor Elizabeth (née Hislop). Thomas was a bank clerk when he enlisted for WWI in Ontario in 1916; he served in the 235th Battalion, CEF. He was a physician and surgeon by the time of his marriage in 1926 in St. Thomas, ON. His Victoria office was in the Belmont Block at 805 Government St, Downtown. The Grays lived at 1745 Rockland Av from 1938-64.

1939-41: Richard Frederick Hinton (b. Capetown, South Africa, c.1904) and Doris Merriman (née Girdwood, Victoria, BC, c.1912). Richard was an accountant for Shell Oil. At the time of their marriage in 1932, Doris was an artist living with her parents Edward and Florence Girdwood at 243 Kingston St, James Bay.

1941: Charles Lewis Bosdet (b. Arichat, NS 1886- 1942) converted the house into four apartments which became known as The Drake Apartments. He was a metallist engineer, he died accidentally of carbon monoxide poisoning while working under a car at his home at 1998 Forrester St in Saanich.

* R.J. Cross, The Life and Times of Victoria Architect P. Leonard James. Victoria, BC: Dear Brutus Publishing, 2005, p.41. 1759 Rockland

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:


• Map of Victoria's Heritage Register Properties

• Rockland History

• Rockland Heritage Register


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


 © VICTORIA HERITAGE FOUNDATION (VHF) 2014
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