line
 
   
 
 
 
 

Heritage Register
Rockland

906 Pemberton Road


Built 1910-11
Heritage-Designated 2001

For: Edward & Lola Grierson

Architect: Samuel Maclure
Contractor: Andrew Henry Mitchell

906 Pemberton

ARCHITECTURE:

This is a stunning example of the British Arts & Crafts Tudor Revival. The main roof of this 2½-storey house is steeply hipped with exposed rafter tails. It has substantial gabled extensions on the front and two sides. There are two gabled dormers, one to the left of the front-facing gable, the other on the rear. All the gables are jettied with corbels and have wide bargeboards and finials. The gable on the right front has a very shallow secondstorey box bay on its right half and on its left half, a balcony projects over the front entry porch. There is a large deck over a one-storey extension on the left side. On the right side is a large balcony over the side entry porch and porte-cochère. The gables and upper floor are heavily half-timbered with roughcast stucco. The main floor at front and sides is clad in granite, including the battered front porch piers and the straight piers of the porte-cochère. The rear is clad in shingles. The open verandah of stone-capped granite on either side of the front porch wraps around to the porte-cochère. There are two granite chimneys, an external one on the right side. The property retains its front granite wall and wrought iron railings. The house was built for $12,000, and has been extensively rehabilitated. It is now a single family dwelling once again, with several condominiums built at the rear of the property in a sympathetic style.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

1910-22: Edward/Edmund Delgare/Delsart “Del” Grierson (b. Durham, ON 1861-1922) worked his way west in construction for the CPR starting in Winnipeg in the 1880s. Del made his money as an Edmonton hotelier and real estate investor, and was a City Councillor 1901-04. Several landmarks were named for him, including Grierson Presbyrerian Church (Del donated the land for the first church building), Delton neighbourhood and Grierson Hill. In 1892, Del purchased the Queens Hotel in Edmonton with partner Fred Jackson. He later built, managed and lived in the Alberta Hotel. In 1902 he married Mrs. Lola Dittebrandt Booth (b. St. Louis, USA, c.1875), who came to Canada in 1896. They moved to Victoria in 1909; Del died here in 1922.

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

1922-31: In 1926 Lola married her neighbour, widower Alfred Cornelius Flumerfelt (b. Markham, ON 1856-1930) in Calgary. He lived at 835 Pemberton Rd Ruhebuhne (demolished) with his first wife Ada Annie (née Kilvington, 1857-1924) (855 Pemberton Rd). Alfred began in the wholesale boot and shoe business, which eventually became Ames, Holden & Co, and came to BC in 1886 as company representative. He was involved in many organizations including the Board of Trade, Jubilee Hospital and the Protestant Orphans Home. Flumerfelt entered the political field, was elected an MLA, and Premier William Bowser appointed him Minister of Finance in 1915. His political career was short-lived: Harlan Carey Brewster ran against him in a 1916 by-election in Victoria and won. Alfred and Lola lived in this house until his death, and Lola then appears to have left the City.

Tenants: 1932: Mrs. L. Russell.
1933-34: John Moore Nichol (1899-1941) and Minnie Lister (née Beveridge).
1937: Gilbert Dalrymple Irwin and Grace Madeline (née McFeely) married in Vancouver in 1922 and came to Victoria in 1932.
1939-52: Haliburton Hugh Weldon and Eunice Bowser (née Irving, 1896-1972). Eunice was widowed in 1947, but her husband didn’t die in BC. Eunice was born in New Brunswick and came to Victoria in 1913. A niece of BC Premier William Bowser, Eunice then lived at 1001 Terrace Av, Rockland, until her death.
1955-58: Jessie Sweeting moved here after the death of her husband (638 Rockland Pl); her long-time neighbour at 638 Rockland, Florence Wright, moved here after 1958.

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) 2016
House GrantsHeritage HousesResources & PublicationsNews & EventsBuilding CommunityAbout