Heritage Register
Rockland

522 St. Charles Street (ex-422 St. Charles St)

Built 1910-11
Heritage-Registered

For: Herbert & Emma Moore

Architect/Contractor: George C. Mesher & Co.

ARCHITECTURE:

This shingled 1½-storey Arts & Crafts house has a side-gabled roof and a front-gabled extension over a small gabled porch. The entrance door has a single window and sidelights. The steps are now to the side. There is a wide angled cantilevered bay to the right of the porch and a flat-roofed extension to the left. The flat roof serves as a balcony for the upper level. The main gables are all bracketed and have prominent dentil courses below half-timbering and roughcast stucco. Most windows are multi-pane over single pane. The right side has a small cantilevered box bay. The left side has an extensive later deck addition with a pergola.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

1910-20: Herbert William Ruthven Moore (b. London, ENG 1873-1954) and Emma Alice (née Petley, 1877-1932). Herbert studied law at Cambridge University. He came to Canada in 1896 and managed a gold mine in the Yukon for several years. He came to Victoria in 1902 and was called to the BC bar in 1908. For many years he was a crown prosecutor. Before coming to Canada he was a member of one of England’s best rugby teams, but in Victoria, he played golf. Before WWI he was a sports reporter for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. During WWI he was a lieutenant with the Seaforth Highlanders, then joined the British Army’s Labour Corps. He was promoted to captain in 1918. In 1929 he formed a partnership with Charles E. Wilson, as Moore & Wilson, Barristers & Solicitors. He retired in 1951 and was living at the Union Club at the time of his death.

OTHER OCCUPANTS:

1921-75: Physician Harold Edward Ridewood was born in Enfield, Middlesex, England, and studied at the London Hospital medical college and the University of London. He completed his studies in 1903 and was appointed house physician at London Hospital; in 1908 he was surgical registrar. He came to Victoria in 1911. In 1913 he helped found the American College of Surgeons. During WWI he served overseas in charge of the No.1 Casualty Clearing Station from 1915-18, and in 1920 he opened a private practice in Victoria. In 1919 he married Mary Medd (1896- 1975) who was born at Heron Lake, IA and came to BC with her family in 1905. Harold died in London, England in 1952. Mary remained in this house until her death in 1975.

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