Address: 538 Sumas Street
Built: 1912
1912 householder: Richard H. Cole, retired farmerRichard Henry Cole received a building permit for this residence on 20 May 1912. The permit authorized the construction of a seven room 1 ― storey frame dwelling at a cost of $2,000. A plumbing permit was issued for the property a month later, so the building may have been completed by that time.
Cole was a retired farmer. Born in Prescott, Ontario, of Irish descent in 1838, he moved west and established a farm near Carman, Manitoba. After he retired, he moved to Winnipeg before resettling with his wife, Mary Jane Cole, in Victoria.
This house at 538 Sumas Street was their retirement home. Unfortunately, Mr. Cole did not enjoy it for long. He died on 19 April 1914 at the age of seventy-six. He was buried back in Carman, Manitoba. Mrs. Cole remained in this Sumas Street home until 1919. She subsequently moved to Vancouver where she died, at the age eighty-one, in 1926.