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Part 1: Fernwood continues...

7. Turn right on Stanley Avenue:
Addresses of note: 1834, bricklayer William Whittington's house (1891); 1915(1907), 1925(1911).

8. Turn right on Gladstone Avenue:
Heritage homes include: 1427, William Lyall's house (1897), a Queen Anne-style cross-gabled cottage with elaborate brackets and saw-toothed shingles in the gables; and 1460, contractor Thomas Matthew's house (1892), a Victorian Queen Anne with turned columns and spindles, half-timbering and saw-tooth shingling. James Parfitt built and lived in 1446.

9. Turn left on Belmont Avenue:
On the corner note 1924-26, impressive "Oak Villa", merchant Alfred Wescott's home (1891). This Eclectic Queen Anne-style residence has a two-storey, diagonal, pedimented corner bay, an arched Palladian window and many multi-paned Queen Anne windows. Down the block 2024 (1907) is a massive Craftsman-style house, a style popular into the 1920's.

10. Turn left on Pembroke Street:
Originally called South Road, the street marks the divi-ding line between the estates of early property owners Benjamin Pearse and Roderick Finlayson. Included on the heritage registry: 1461, teacher Earle Clarke's English Arts and Crafts-style house (1911) with half-timbering and leaded windows; 1449, carpenter J.H. Adams's Italianate home (1891) with 'catalogue' ornamentation and a two-storey bay balanced by an offset entrance porch and; 1439, teamster Oliver Johnson's Queen Anne-style cottage (1898); 1417, bricklayer and stonemason William Heatherbell's house (1892), with sandstone lintels, quoined corners and decorative cor-belled stringcourses to demonstrate his craft. The timbered porch is a later addition. Other homes of note: 1400, Capt. Henry Parson's Classical Revival-style house (1894) built by John Terry, a bricklayer; and 1347, Capt. Mark Pike's modest Victorian cottage (1891) with symmetrical bay windows. Of interest is 1342, an 1890's home with a huge modern heritage-style addition. On the corner is 2103 Fernwood, the Italianate-style Hutchinson Hodgson home (1892). The rear attachment may be an original cottage, listed on Sayward Lane in 1889. A side-trip north to the top of Fernwood Road includes: 2221 Fernwood, the Thors-teinson-Anderson house (1890), an Italianate cottage lived in by some of the neighbourhood's many Icelandic families; across the street, Fernwood Village's only original commercial enterprise, an auto garage from early in the century; 2663 Fernwood (at Kings) is Fred Parfitt's imposing home (1912); at Cedar Hill Road is western Canada's first Jewish Cemetery (1860).

Part Two: Spring Ridge

11. Continue down Pembroke Street:
Crossing Fernwood Road enter the historic Spring Ridge neighbourhood through Gower Park, near the original springs. This important older area has not been well preserved. Even the terrain itself was greatly altered by the digging of gravel pits. One can only guess at the origi-nal nature of what Gov. Douglas called "the Fountain Ridge" by observing the few remaining large native trees on Balmoral Road above Chambers Street. Unlike the rest of hilly Fernwood, much of this land was levelled for con-struction of Vic High on the site of abandoned gravel pits. The original public spring for Victoria, long ago diverted into the storm sewer system, is completely obscured. At 1286, Howell house (1890) is a modest carpenter-version of the Italian Villa-style introduced by architects Wright & Saunders, and popular in the 1860s. A Sunday School which developed into Belmont United Church was started here.

12. Turn right on Ridge Road:
Long-time residents remember this corner as the location of a spring. 2130, Icelandic carpenter Kelly Johnson's impressive Queen Anne-style home (1891-97) is now sadly isolated between undistinguished apartment blocks.

13.Turn left on Denman Street:
The intersection of Denman and Spring marks the approximate location of Victoria's original Public Spring. In the 1860s, horse-drawn carts of the Spring Ridge Water Co. carved trails along the ridge to Cham-bers Street and into town. This was also the site of the Empire Brewery and Saloon (1885), which used the spring water to brew beer. A similar establishment, the Lion Brewery and Saloon (1862-1885) stood at the site of the playground off Chambers at the foot of Queens, "C" on map. According to early maps, the main spring or public well, was located between Princess & Queens, west of Spring Road, an area once known as "Grass Hill". Another spring is shown closer to Pembroke and Cham-bers, both outlets perhaps where willow trees now grow. A side-trip up Walnut Street takes in 1272, the LeSueur home (1898), an intact Queen Anne cottage containing original family furnishings. In the back yard is an earlier two-room cabin (1894).

14. Turn left on Spring Road:
Looking to the north, notice the early Cedar Hill Road trail. Walk south to Pembroke past houses built on the site of the original springs, later municipal gravel yards. At Pembroke, William Stevenson Park is located in a pit excavated to fill James Bay prior to the construction of the Empress Hotel, leading to the remark, "a good piece of Fernwood is downtown under the Empress."

15. Turn right on Pembroke Street:
Perched curiously on the remains of a former ridge are two very unusual brick houses: 1215, contractor Fred Adam's mansard-roofed home (1890) with a symmetrical facade with elaborate porch and twin bays, and almost flat shed-roofed dormers. Contracted to build the BC Parliament Buildings, Adams drowned in a shipwreck off Trial Island in 1895; 1211, bricklayer John Andersen's house (1890), a hip-roofed brick Queen Anne-style cot-tage with picturesque 'Scottish' dormers. Both houses feature imposing chimneys.

16. Turn left on Chambers Street:
Chambers, which appears on Victoria's first survey maps, was a main supply route for water, gravel and beer carts. At Gladstone stood the wooden Spring Ridge School (1887-1968), "D" on map, now a neighbourhood 'Commons'. A short detour right on Caledonia St. offers a rest in a small park of large Garry Oaks, centuries-old, surely the oldest surviving "residents" of the neighbourhood. A side-trip down Caledonia to Cook Street leads to a noteworthy church at 1112 Cale-donia (1891) and a block of Italianate homes from that era. Crossing Cook, one enters the historic North Park neighbourhood. The NW corner,"E" on map, was the location of the stately home of City Hall architect, John Teague, demolished in 1966. A giant Sequoia tree marks the site.

17. Continue along Chambers Street to Yukon Street:
Walk past the Community Allotment Gardens (at North Park) and Hagaert Park (at Grant) to a short block of five Italianate homes on Yukon (1894), four of them identi-cal, built by barber William Whittaker, who lived near-by on Balmoral Road. A side-trip to Pandora Avenue takes in the heritage-designated Christian Science Church (1919) at 1205 Chambers, built on the site of the early Women's Infirmary (1864). Four houses on the south side of Pandora facing Harris Green were moved for construction of the church.

18. Return to start, continuing up Grant Street:
The footpath through Haegart Park leads to Grant Street and a return to the starting point, crossing the Victoria High School grounds to the parking lot or Fernwood Square.

For further information consult:
The Fernwood Files, Ellis & Lillard, Orca
This Old House, City of Victoria
Landmarks, Geoffrey Castle & Barry King
City of Victoria Archives
Hallmark Society Archives
Fernwood Community Association

Acknowledgements:
The preparation of this brochure was financially assisted by the Province of British Columbia through the BC Heritage Trust. The Victoria Heritage Foundation (VHF) provided funding for brochure production. The City of Victoria, committed to heritage preservation, provides funding assistance for exterior restoration of Heritage Designated residences, administered by the volunteer VHF. For designation and funding info call 383-4511.

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Researched and written
by Carol A. Sokoloff
© FCA September, 1996.