Address: 474 Burnside Road
Built: 1908
1912 householder: Harry Kemp, cooper and packerThis building is gone! It was demolished in April 2015, about 3 years after this photograph was taken. But here is a description of the building as it was in 2012, for the record:
This attractive Edwardian Arts & Crafts-style house was built in 1908 by Charles Northam, a building carpenter who lived nearby at 524 Beta Street. It has a dormer window on its south side, and angled bay window on the front, with a wide gable above a pent roof over the porch. The gable is covered with shingle siding and adorned with a finial. There is coloured art glass in the bay window and a turned column on the porch.
Historical records for this residence are confusing, because a smaller dwelling was located at the rear of the property. When the census was taken in June 1911, this house was occupied by Harry L. Kemp, age 47, and his wife, Sophia Kemp, age 46. They were born in England and had immigrated to Canada in 1910. Mr. Kemp was employed as a cooper [i.e. barrel maker] and packer with the Brackman-Ker flour mill on Store Street (now the site of Capital Iron). In 1913, the Kemps moved out of this house and into a smaller dwelling (now demolished) on the back of the lot. This house was vacant for about a year, until it was occupied by William Steel, a watchmaker for the firm of Shortt, Hill & Duncan, jewellers, on View Street. Steel first appears at this address in the 1915 Victoria City directory.
In 1944, buildings along this portion of Burnside Road were renumbered by the City of Victoria. This residence, originally known as 504 Burnside Road East, became 478 Burnside Road East. The small house next door (completed in 1913 and originally known as 506 Burnside Road) became 478 Burnside Road East. These two houses are among the few survivors of the many family homes that stood in this part of the Burnside Gorge neighbourhood in the Edwadian era.