Address: 626 Dunedin Street
Built: 1904
1912 householder: Frederick L. Wolfenden, saloon keeperThis early Edwardian home has a hipped roof with front facing gable dormer and a corbelled brick chimney. It has a partial width front porch with side facing steps. There is an octagonal bay at the left front corner and an angled bay towards the back of the house on the left side. The transom windows have coloured art glass panes and there are decorative, cutaway corner boards over the windows. At one time, there was a carriage house on the back of the property, with three box stalls for horses and kennels for the owner's dogs.
The house was built in 1904 for Charles Hall, a streetcar driver. Charles Ross, a railway brakeman, lived here from about 1907 to 1910. In 1911 it was the home of Frederick Wolfenden, age 31, Alice Wolfenden, age 27, and their two sons: 7 year old Lester and 5 year old Robert. Mrs. Wolfenden's mother, 65 year old Lilly Anderson, also lived here.
Wolfenden, who was born in Victoria, owned the Manitoba Saloon at 610 Yates Street in 1911. The following year, he bought the King Edward Hotel at 639 Yates Street. The now demolished hotel, on the corner of Yates Street and Broad Street, included a popular saloon. Wolfenden's neighbour, temperance advocate Noah Shakespeare, who lived a few doors away at 636 Dunedin Street, probably disapproved of this line of work.
In August 1919, Frederick Wolfenden and his family, including his mother-in-law, immigrated to the United States and settled in San Francisco. He managed and owned a couple of Bay City hotels in the 1920s and 1930s.
This house at 626 Dunedin Street subsequently became the home of Jeremiah Queale and his family. Like the first owner of this house, Queale was a motorman (i.e. driver) on the BC Electric Railway. Perhaps a co-worker, who had lived at 620 Dunedin Street, recommended the location to Mr. Queale.