Jun
4
By Ted Ross
In 1863, Richard Carr, purchased four acres to the west of Beacon Hill Park. Here this successful merchant would build a fine house and small farmstead to raise the nine children he had with his wife, Emily. Their youngest daughter, also named Emily, would become a well-known Canadian artist and author.
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| NOW photo by trudy chiswell |
Richard, a native of Kent, England, born in 1818, sailed on a ship in 1837 to America. He made his fortune as a shopkeeper in California during the 1849 gold rush. He married Emily Saunders in 1855. The Carr’s began their family in California. Emily's poor health, however, forced them to sell out and return to England in 1860. Two years later, in 1862, Richard moved his family to Victoria. He erected a building at 1107 Wharf Street where he established as a wholesaler. He was very successful for many years.
Richard's wife Emily passed away in 1888, leaving the family in their father's hands. His two older daughters were adults. The eldest, Edith, stayed in the home and took over raising the younger children, who were in their teens.
Richard died in 1890, leaving his property to the children. Edith, as senior child, took over from her father, emasculating her siblings. She had the property subdivided. Every family member had lots in the subdivision. Emily, the youngest daughter, built a large house on her lot on Simcoe Street in 1914. It became the setting for her story collection, "The House of All Sorts". Years before she sold the piece immediately to the east of the house-site. The Colonist Hotel was built on that lot in 1896, on the northwest corner of Simcoe and Douglas.
In 1890 a streetcar line was established out Superior Street to the Rithet Wharves, providing service for workers in that developing industrial area. 1892 saw the Beacon Hill extension added, south along Menzies Street from Superior, then east on Niagara Street to Beacon Hill Park. This streetcar line was to serve the new homes which would be built in the area.
A brand-new daily paper appeared in Victoria in 1884. The Victoria Times was edited by William Templeman, a man who would later be appointed to the Senate of Canada by Wifred Laurier. Templeman lived in homes on Cook Street, Kane Street and Menzies Street from 1884 to 1896.
Architect W.P. Rowan of Glasgow was, at that time, involved in church design in Victoria. He acquired the building lot at 6 Simcoe from the Carr subdivision and had a three-storey mansion erected for his personal residence in 1894. By 1897 Rowan was back in Glasgow and 6 Simcoe, on the southeast corner of St. Andrews and Simcoe, was the home of the William Templeman family. When Victoria addresses were refigured in 1907, the number became 633 Simcoe. A photograph in the Victoria City Archives, ca. 1895 - 1908, shows the Gordon Highlanders assembled at the St. Andrew's & Caledonia Society Grounds across St. Andrews Street, with the Hon. Wm. Templeman's house in the background.
At the time of the Carr subdivision, the block enclosed by Beacon, St. Andrews, Simcoe and Douglas Streets was crossed by two lanes. One crossed mid-block from Beacon to Simcoe. The second teed off the cross-lane at its mid-point, going north to St. Andrews. Bill Lowry, retired city gardener, tells of walking to Beacon Hill School as a child along that lane from Simcoe to Beacon.
Three building lots were created north of Park Lane (the cross-lane) on Beacon Street. By 1903 there were one and a half storey houses at 652, 660 and 668 Beacon, according to the fire insurance maps housed in the City Archives. Photos in the archives taken in 1972 show the houses with their beautifully developed yards and trees, nearly eighty years after construction. All three backed on Glover Lane (the tee lane). Across that lane stood the imposing three-storey dwelling of the Hon. Wm. Templeman at 633 Simcoe.
Next month: Part 2
Bibliography
Victoria City Archives, "Fire Insurance Maps", 1903; Victoria City Archives, Photos Numbers M03106, M03107, M03108 & M01155, 1972; M02960, 1910; M08513, 1895; Victoria City Archives, "Written Record of Building Permit Applications", 1972-1976; Victoria City Archives, "Application to Connect With Sewer, 633 Simcoe (147 St. Andrews), May 7, 1945; Vancouver Public Library, "British Columbia City Directories", 1860-1955; Emily Carr, "Growing Pains: An Autobiography", 1946; Janis Ringuette, "Beacon Hill Park History", 2009; Wikipedia, "William Templeman", 2015; voyager.library.uvic.ca "Victoria Daily Times",1884-1971; UVIC, "Wharf Street 1881: Richard Carr", 2012; Arix Realty Corporation, "Beacon Park Apartments", 1989; www.beacondrivein.ca, "Beacon Drive In Restaurant", 2012; interview: Murray Covlin, manager, Beacon Park Apartments, 2015.