Address: 529 Sumas Street
Built: 1911
1912 householder: Walter North, musicianThis Edwardian Vernacular Arts & Crafts style home, with front gable and full-width front porch, was built in 1911 at a cost of $3500. It was the home of Walter and Eva North and probably erected by Eva's father, a prominent building contractor. This two-storey residence features a front gable wall, with roughcast stucco and half-timbering. The once-open front porch is now enclosed, but original features are still evident, including large concrete corner pillars that imitate clusters of wooden posts. Brick chimneys on the roof have been replaced, as have original top floor windows; but the wide, box bay windows on either side of the inside entrance, have been preserved.
Walter Valentine North was born in New Zealand and came to Victoria, with his parents and siblings, as a child. When this house was built, he was 33 years and had been married for seven years. His wife, Eva Madeline (née Lang), was 26 years old and their daughter, Marla, was 6 years old. His occupation, on the 1911 census, was “musician.” The cornet was his favourite instrument and his talent was evident at an early age. In 1887, when he was nine years old, he performed an “instrumental trio” with his brother (John, age 11, violin) and sister (Hattie, age 10, piano) at a gala event in the Temperance Hall on Johnson Street. “The young musicians surprised the large audience by their musical ability,” the Victoria Daily Colonist reported (30 January 1887).
Throughout the 1890s and early 1900s the name Walter V. North appears in many concert programmes. Describing his wedding, the Daily Colonist noted (17 September 1903) that “Mr. North, whose delightful cornet solos have been a feature of many a regimental band concert, was serenaded by his fellow bandsmen and felicitated by the many friends who hold him in high esteem.” He was a house musician in several Victoria theatres, including Pantage's Theatre on Government Street, now the MacPherson Playhouse. However, he commenced his working life as an apprentice tobacconist and from 1901 to 1909 was proprietor of a tobacco store on the corner of Yates Street and Government Street, Victoria's main intersection. He worked as a clerk at the Victoria Daily Times newspaper for a couple of years during the First World War and was a warehouseman at the BC Liquor Control Board for nearly twenty years. All the while, he maintained his love of music. He died in 1942 and is buried in Ross Bay Cemetery.
Eva North was described as “one of Victoria's charming native daughters” at the time of her marriage in September 1903. Her father, who hosted the wedding ceremony at the bride's family home, was identified as “Richard Lang, the well-known contractor, of Sumas street.” The Lang residence stood on the southwest corner of Sumas Street and Dunedin Street and had been home to Eva, her father and Swedish-born mother, Ida, since the mid-1890s. Previously, they had lived at 89 Henry Street, now the 600 block of Hillside Avenue between Rock Bay Avenue and Government Street.
Richard Lang (1862-1932) built many homes and commercial buildings in this part of the Burnside Gorge neighbourhood. He was widowed in September 1902. Significantly perhaps, his daughter's wedding coincided with the anniversary of his wife's death. Following their marriage, Eva and Walter North resided in the Lang family home on Sumas Street until their own place at 529 Sumas Street was ready.
When she was enumerated in 1911, six year old Marla North was not enrolled in school, but she probably attended Burnside School (1912) when she was older. The handsome new school on Oliver Avenue (now called Jutland Road) was just around the corner from her home, so she didn't have far to walk!