Fancy Billy

On April 12, 1907, carpenter John M. Locke took out a water permit for this house at 1746 William Street. He is listed as living there in 1908 with his wife, Martha. Locke worked as a carpenter for the Royal City Planing Mills and at the E.H. Heaps Sawmill, which was located at the bottom of Victoria Drive - a short walk away.

Locke was born in Prince Edward Island in 1871 and his wife, Martha Caimes, was born near Stratford, Ontario in 1867. 

A permit for a garage ($50) was issued on June 14, 1912. The house is a Colonial Revival style with a projecting front porch and a large dormer on the hipped roof. The dormer probably isn't part of the original design.

This 2 1/2 storey tall home at 1556 William Street is an elaborate version of the Gabled Vernacular Style. It has a closed front gable and the porch is attached to its rectangular main structure. The structure is more elaborate than others of this style because of the bay windows and balcony set on the porch roof.

It is listed as 1910 but no building permit has been found. The City Directories list the date of 1908 for this home with James Springer, a logger, living there in 1909, and Harry Christiansen, another logger, taking residence in 1910.

 
The strongly triangular front gable, saddlebag dormers and sleeping porch proclaim this house at 1544 William Street to be an Edwardian-Style house. The building permit is dated April 6, 1910 and was issued to Passage and Tomlin, a realtor/builder with offices located on Commercial Drive.

The original house was valued at $2,000 and is first shown on a map in 1911. It was listed vacant for that year and the next but in 1913, a missionary by the name of John Spencer moved in.

Thanks to the Grandview Heritage Blog for the information.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

High on the Hill

The first house I am looking at today is at 1556 Grant Street. It is a Colonial Revival-style house with a hipped roof and a hipped domer. It was built by James Edward Guinet as his own house although the Grandview Heritage Group has not found a building permit as of yet. 

This home was built in 1908/09. The water permit is dated July of 1908.

The Guinet family lived here until 1912. 

Original photos show the house at a lower elevation. This is due to the fact that the current street grade is lower, the house has not been raised.

This home is a more modest version of its neighbours and I am going to show you one of those homes now.

If you can see through the trees and shrubbery, this house is located at 1544 Grant Street. As with 1556, it is a Colonial Revival style home. It is assumed that James Guinet built this house, which is listed as new and vacant in 1909. William H. Hibbert occupied the residence from 1910 to 1912.

Sorry I was unable to get clearer photos. That's the way it goes sometimes!

That brings up to 1530 Grant Street. Another building best described as Colonial Revival. However, the sheltering hipped roof, exposed rafter rails and open soffits give it the look of the emerging Prairie Style houses from that period in Chicago. This is another home where the building permit seems to be lost. 

The official date of this home is 1912 although directories suggest it may have been around earlier. In 1909, a miner by the name of William W. Irwin lived at 1530. In 1910 and 1911, it was a lumberman named Walter M. Marriot and in 1912, Edmund Evans, a piano teacher. This looks like another home built by Guinet. 

I want to thank the Grandview Heritage Group for the information on the homes.

I hope you find the beauty around you.