Address: 2616 Pleasant Street
Built: 1861
1912 householder: Francis O'Reilly, surveyorKnown as Point Ellice House, this is one of the oldest houses in Victoria. Designed in an Italianate style by architects Wright & Saunders, it was built in 1861 as the home of Catherine Work Wallace and Charles Wentworth Wallace. Peter O'Reilly, a colonial government official, bought the house in 1867 and it remained an O'Reilly family home for over a century.
This place was once identified as No. 4 Pleasant Street. After 1907, when the City of Victoria adopted a new street address system, it was known as 2616 Pleasant Street. The street was aptly named when the house was first built, but by the early 1900s industrial and commercial activites were encroaching on this genteel enclave overlooking the Gorge Water. Two large lumber mills (owned by Leigh & Sons and Moore-Whittington) were operating on Pleasant Street only a block away from Point Ellice House a century ago. Residential dwellings were being squeezed out by industrial and commercial firms on adjacent streets. Remarkably, this place survived.
When this residence was enumerated in June 1911, the head of household, Francis Joseph O'Reilly, was 45 years old. Described as a "surveyor" on the census, he was the provincial land surveyor for Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. His brother, Arthur John O'Reilly, was 38 years. A barrister, he had articled with a prominent Victoria law firm, Drake, Jackson and Helmcken. (The Tyrwhitt-Drake residence, now demolished, stood at 2540 Pleasant Street at this time.) Their sister, 44 year old Charlotte Kathleen O'Reilly, was absent when the enumerator called. This census household included a 35 year old English housemaid, Marla Green, and a 25 year old Chinese gardener, Lee Sing.
The government of British Columbia purchased Point Ellice House and its grounds from the O'Reilly family in 1974. Until the early 1990s, the property was managed by the provincial Heritage Branch as a house museum. It is still owned by the BC government, but the house and its heritage gardens are now administered by a non-profit organization, the Point Ellice House Preservation Society. The historic property is maintained by a small staff and dedicated volunteers.
Point Ellice House is a national historic site. Its significance is also recognized by provincial and municipal heritage designations. Detailed descriptions of the architectural elements of Point Ellice House are provided in This Old House, vol. 3, published by the Victoria Heritage Foundation in 2007. The descriptive entry provides biographical information about the residents of this mid-Victorian era residence over the years. Additional information about the history of the house, along with news of current activities and events on the property, will be found on the website of Point Ellice House.