Address: 636 Dunedin Street
Built: 1912-1913
1912 householder: Noah Shakespeare, retired photographer, politician and postmasterConstruction on this house may have commenced in late 1912, but the house was not ready for occupants until early 1913, when a plumbing permit was issued for this address. So, this house falls slightly outside of our chronological range. But the owner, Noah Shakespeare, was living just around the corner on Sumas Street when this house on Dunedin Street was being built and was very much a part of the Burnside Gorge community in 1912. Moreover, the house and its owner are very interesting.
The house has a full width verandah with an inset entry at the right front corner. There are front facing steps at the right corner of the house and a box bay window on the right side. There are ornamental brackets on the porch pillars and scuppers (for draining rain water) on the front wall of the porch. A dormer with four mullioned pane glass windows projects from the front of the hipped roof. It is one of the most striking houses on this block of remarkable late-Victorian and Edwardian-era homes.
This was the retirement home of Noah Shakespeare, a former mayor of Victoria and the city's long-time postmaster. Born in Brierly Hill, England in 1839, he came to the coal mines of Nanaimo with his brother and other Staffordshire men in 1863. He worked double shifts in order to pay for the passage of his wife, Eliza Jane (née Pearson), and their eldest son. They settled in Victoria in 1864. Noah Shakespeare established himself as a photographer and documented the city in a series of panoramic photographs which are preserved in the BC Archives. For a brief period in the late 1870s, he was associated with a workingmen's campaign to restrict the immigration of Chinese labourers. At the time, it was a popular cause with many civic voters, who elected him alderman on three occasions and mayor of Victoria in 1881. The following year, he was elected Member of Parliament for Victoria District. He resigned his parliamentary seat when the federal government appointed him postmaster for Victoria.
A devout Methodist, Shakespeare helped to establish the Centennial Methodist (now Centennial United) Church, which stands not far away on the corner of Gorge Road and David Street. He was a leader in the Methodist Sunday School and Adult Bible Study class; he was active in many community organizations, including the Mechanics' Institute and the YMCA. He was a prominent figure in the temperance movement in the Pacific Northwest. Considering his dislike of alcohol, he may not have approved of his neigbour, Frederick Wolfenden, at 626 Dunedin Street.
Shakespeare retired from his position as Postmaster of Victoria on 31 March 1914. By that time, he and his wife were ensconced in this house at 636 Dunedin Street. An old friend and another BC pioneer, Thomas Argyle, lived a few doors away at 632 Dunedin Street. Shakespeare was a pall bearer at Argyle's funeral in 1919.
Noah and Eliza Shakespeare celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in this house in 27 December 1919. He died on 13 May 1921 and is buried at Ross Bay Cemetery. She died on 28 April 1923 and is also buried there.