Address: 3070 Albany Street
Built: 1911
1912 householders: W. H. Ozard, newspaper printer and linotype operator; John S. Donahoo, timber surveyorA building permit for this property was issued to W. H. Ozard on 17 January 1911. The permit authorized the construction of a 1 ½ storey wood frame dwelling, with six rooms, at a cost of $2,640. A septic tank permit for this address was issued to Ozard on 27 February 1911, so presumably the house was occupied soon after.
Although it is now stuccoed and duplexed, the Edwardian Arts & Crafts character of this house is still evident in the wide front gable and the pent roof that covers box bay windows. A cantilevered box bay and shed dormer can be seen on the left side of the house. On the right side, there is a gable roof and a recessed porch. The front facing windows on the main floor and gable appear to be original.
The Ozard family were enumerated here when the 5th decennial census of Canada was taken in June 1911. The household comprised William Henry Ozard, age 36; his wife Rhoda Rose Ozard, age 32, and their 5 year old son, Charles W. Ozard. Mr. Ozard was a printer and worked for the Victoria Daily Times newspaper. Originally from Chatham, Ontario, he and his parents and siblings moved to Winnipeg in the early 1890s. He married Rhoda Rose Emma Gatchell Walker in Winnipeg in 1903. They moved to Victoria a few years later. About the same time, Ozard's parents and siblings moved from Winnipeg to a farm at Gordon Head in Saanich.
When the census was taken, the Ozard household included a family of lodgers: Charles H. Walker, age 56; Margaret Walker, age 52, and their son Harold Walker, age 9. The Walker family may have been relatives of Mrs. Ozard. Charles Walker was an architect. The 1912 city directory indicates that he was working for the firm of William Dunford & Son, one of Victoria's leading house contractors. (This census household also included a 47 year old woman, Lucinda Dearing, who is identified as a lodger. Her connection to the Ozard and Walker families has yet to be determined.)
Within a year, the house at 3070 Albany was sold or rented to John Donohoo, who is listed at this address from 1912 to 1915 in city directories. He was a timber surveyor and partner in the firm McEachran, Donohoo & McEachran. Much of their work took place on the west coast of Vancouver Island, between Port Alberni and Kyuqout.
Meantime, the William Ozard and Charles Walker families moved next door to 3066 Albany Street. The house at that address had been erected a few years earlier in 1909. It would be an Ozard family home for over thirty years.