Timeline

History of the House

The house is built in around 1900 in Tudor Revival style.  Its first owner is a man named Henry A. Goward (1828-1906). Henry is married to Elizabeth C Goward, and came from Wales to the Pacific Northwest in 1889. From 1897 to 1904 he worked as the chief city librarian.

Henry A. Goward dies.

Tax assessment records indicate that this was the last time the house was officially on the market until it was purchased more than 100 years later by Matt & Jess in 2013.

A 1915 attestation paper (voluntary enlistment during WWI) for 28-year old Harry Thomas McCall lists the house under “present address”. Harry names his mother, Elizabeth, as his next of kin and specifies that she also lives at the same address. Harry goes on to serve as a Private in the Canadian Infantry 103 Battalion. Harry was born in Glasgow, Scotland and worked as a machinist prior to becoming a soldier.

Census data indicate that the home is rented to Albert Henry Woollatt (1876) and Emmeline Woollatt (1882) for a monthly fee of $25.  Albert immigrated from England in 1905 and is listed as a “Teamster” with an annual income of $1,800.

Voter list data indicate that the home is occupied by Mrs William H Sweeney and Mrs Frank I Clarke, both widows.

Voter list data indicate that the home is occupied by Harry S Attewell (1915-1956), a local grocer, and his wife. Later in 1945 voter list records indicate Harry and his wife living just up the road, and Harry’s trade is specified as “navy”. In 1953 records show that Harry and wife are living in a smaller community two hours to the north, and Harry’s listed profession is “poultryman”.

Voter list data indicate that the home now belongs to Herbert J Galliford (1870-1955), a gardener, and his wife Ann (née Wells, 1873-1965).  Herbert and Ann came from England after WWI, and Herbert retired as a gardener in 1945.  The home will stay in the Galliford family name for the next 70 years until purchased by Matt & Jess in 2013.   Just a few years earlier in 1942 The Gallifords are listed as living across the street at the Maclure designed “Illahie” at 1041 St Charles St.

Shortly after Herbert passes away in 1955 his daughter Grace (1907-2001), a school teacher, moves into the house, presumably to take care of her mother. In 1957, 1958, and 1963 census data list the the home as belonging to Ann and daughter Grace.

Voter list data now show the home as belonging to Herbert Galliford’s son Ian (1917-2013) and his older sister Grace. Ian is an accomplished pipe organist, and studied and worked as Music Master in Aurora, Ontario during the 1940s. When he returned to the west coast he worked as the Music and House Master at Shawnigan Lake Boys School for 19 years. Below are some excerpts from an interview with Ian in 2011 entitled “A Few Variations on My Organ-ized Life” for a Royal Canadian College of Organists newsletter:

“When I was about ten years old, in the mid-1920s, my parents played an early recording of one Jesse Crawford, playing in hindsight ‘nothing respectable’ on a large Wurlitzer theatre organ in New York City. I remember thinking that it would be wonderful to be able to do that. It was maybe just a couple of years later, while staying with my sister in Victoria, that she took me to a Good Friday service at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian church, where Jesse Longfield (local cricket player and piano and reed organ tuner) accompanied a cantata.  I was hooked.”

“We lived nine miles outside of Victoria; however, every other weekend I came to the city, travelling by ‘jitney’ for music lessons. I stayed with my sisters and would explore what was of greatest interest to me in the city: the churches and, most of all, the organs in them. And if some of them were being played, so much the better! At St. John the Divine, a rumbling from the blower room on Mason Street (little did I know that one day I would clean and maintain that blower!) signalled that someone was practising on the organ. I would slip into a back pew and listen to an oft-repeated snatch of Guilmant, frequently sounding from the Echo section housed high above the nave floor.”

“After one of my many back seat appearances, one of the very senior students invited me to come up to the organ console and watch. A major thrill. My first organ lessons, which began in my late teens, were with George Jennings Burnett at the Church of St. John the Divine. Somehow, I managed to afford the fifty cents per hour practice charge for use of the organ, and he prepared me for diploma exams with the Toronto Conservatory and for Associateship with the American Guild of Organists, the latter being completed in Portland, Oregon. Over the next few years followed a series of events that led to my becoming assistant and then successor to Jennings Burnett at St. John the Divine. I also began weekly trips to Vancouver to study with Frederick Chubb of Christ Church Cathedral, who later succeeded me at St. John’s … but I am ahead of my story.”

“As one of Victoria’s organists, I was given many opportunities for career advancement. I did not accept the position as organist for the local hockey arena (much to the dismay of the promoter) but did become studio organist for Radio Station CFCT, playing an old Robert Morton theatre organ (loaded with ‘toys’) located on the furniture floor of the Eaton’s store, and transmitted by wire across the street four times a week and on occasion down to the inner harbour. I played spirituals which worked rather well on the organ, popular songs and inconsequential rubbish! I was the original “SPLASH”!.”

“In 1942, after a performance of Gaul’s ‘The Holy City’ in memorial to G. Jennings Burnett and a year of conducting the Victoria Choral Union which ended with the annual performance of Handel’s Messiah at Christ Church Cathedral, I moved to St. Andrew’s College in Aurora, Ontario as Music Master. While in Aurora, I travelled to Toronto to further study the organ with Dr. Charles Peaker at St. Paul’s, Bloor Street. As he was Principal of the Conservatory, I cherished his coaching of my performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor. Being desirous of a church position and home, I became organist of St. Stephen’s College Street in Toronto. St. Stephen’s was the home of Evensong broadcasts on radio CFRB, for which I was responsible. It was not anything like playing for CFCT in Victoria!”

“However, due to the failing health of my parents in Victoria, I returned West, becoming Music and House Master at Shawnigan Lake Boys School, where I remained for 19 years. Summers were often spent rebuilding and tuning the organ at the school and, with great friend Christopher Ross, tuning the organ at the Butchart Gardens. During this time I was appointed interim organist at Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria. In order to practice as much as possible, I purchased a Hill, Norman and Beard 3-manual console which I somehow managed to squeeze into the pantry of the kitchen in my house. It was mute, mind you, not connected to anything. Well do I remember my elderly and deaf neighbour tapping on the window and commenting on how much she enjoyed my playing!”. -Ian Galliford, 2011.

The Popes buy the house

Crawl Space
-Completely gut the crawl space including removing all insulation from in-between floor joists, remove oil furnace, all ductwork
-Clean out entire crawl space
-Insulate exterior walls of crawlspace with Icynene spray foam to R24

Tree Removal
-Remove or prune trees that were up against the roofline and/or too close to the foundation including one maple, a monstrous Bay Laurel, and two Laburnums

Attic Work
-Insulate entire attic with Roxul to R44
-Install plywood catwalk in attic

Demolition
-Remove all damaged wallpaper, plaster, and lath from walls and ceiling in the house while protecting the original wainscotting and fir floors
-Remove all framing not original to the house including closets in kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom, and doorframe in archway leading into the hallway
-Remove all floor coverings not original to the house: carpet in living room, multiple layers of laminate & lino in kitchen, hallway, bathroom
-Remove original flooring in kitchen and bathroom (too damaged to keep unfortunately) in order to expose sub-floor for installation of hydronic coils and concrete topper
-Gut kitchen completely
-Gut bathroom completely
-Remove all cast iron and galvanized plumbing

Framing
-Bathroom: bump out wall in bathroom to create bathtub alcove with built-in shower niches
-Kitchen: remove original rough opening kitchen door and create new tudor archway entry for kitchen to match existing arches in the house
-Bedroom: frame-in full height closet in master bedroom with upper and lower sections
-Relocate utility room door 12″ to make room for bathtub alcove
-Reframe attic access hatch with new 2x10s and joist hangers

Heating
-Hydronic heating coils laid down in kitchen and bathroom, and concrete topper laid down in both rooms.
-All electrical and thermostat wires roughed-in for future boiler installation

Electrical
-Remove old 100 A service panel from awkward/unsafe location in kitchen
-Install 200 A service, new service panel in a brand new location in utility room
-Design a completely new electrical system to bring the house up to modern electrical code
-Rewire the entire house with 26 new circuits

Plumbing
-Replace all plumbing in house with modern copper/pex

Drywall Shimming
-Shim out studs for drywall where necessary using strips of 3 mm door skins
-Plane down bowed studs

Framing
-Kitchen blocking: cabinets, range hood, vertical wainscotting
-Bathroom: vertical wainscotting, vanity, towel racks
-Add blocking for drywall where necessary

Insulation
-Insulate exterior walls with Roxul R22
-Insulate ceilings with Roxul R44
-Insulate top and bottom of windows with spray foam
-Insulate window counterweight cavities with rigid foam so that the weights are still functional
-Seal up exterior walls and ceilings with 6 mil vapour barrier

Drywall
-Walls/ceilings in dining room, kitchen, utility room, bathroom, and master bedroom

Brick Fence at Front of Lot
-Dig trench for brick wall foundation, fill with 4″ compacted gravel
-Foundation: make concrete forms, pour 8″ deep concrete foundation
-Build wall: 45 feet long flemish bond double-wide wall with five piers

Interior Painting
-Install ceiling medallions in living room and master bedroom
-Paint all ceilings and top 2′ of walls (above picture rail) 50% linen white
-Paint hallway Opaline below picture rail
-Paint master bedroom Yarmouth Blue below picture rail
-Paint living room Country White below picture rail and above wainscotting

Floor Patching
-Patch holes cut for furnace installed in the 1960s including: six hot air registers, two cold air returns, and one 30″ x 30″ hole where furnace was installed in the 1960s
-Rebuild subfloor for all holes to create a new subfloor flush with existing subfloor
-Cut original boards back in staggered fashion to make the patch less obvious
-Patch using fir boards salvaged from kitchen and bathroom

Floor Restoration
-Refinish all original fir floors: front room, living room, hallway, and both bedrooms
-Stain and clear coat with waterborne polyurethane

Restore Wooden Walls & Ceilings in Second Bedroom
-Walls/ceiling are all vertical V-groove T&G 3 1/4″ fir
-Scrape down all surfaces to remove old paint
-Caulk all gaps
-Paint walls & ceiling Ivory White; Simply White for trim
-Install baseboard: 7″ base with fir base cap
-Install crown moulding

Interior Painting & Trim
-Paint walls Harrisburg Green between picture rail and wainscotting
-Install built-up crown moulding
-Install picture rail

Bathroom Tiling
-Tub surround: 3×6 subway tile including two shower niches and herringbone pattern ceiling
-Floor: unglazed 1″ porcelain hex tile with Doric border in 3/4″ squares

Kitchen and Utility Room
-Tile floors using 13″x13″ terracotta tile

Finishing & Cabinetry
-Install new picture rail in the living room, matching the stain on original woodwork
-Build bathroom vanity
-Install 4′ wainscotting in bathroom using original bathroom Fir wall boards
-Hang new chandelier in front room
-Build kitchen lower cabinets
-Build kitchen upper cabinets
-Install new stain glass panel in front door
-Clean all woodwork in front and living room
-Plumbing: install H/C valves, shower valve, hot water tank, toilet

Finishing & Cabinetry
-Build and install new Fir thresholds for front door, back door, kitchen, bathroom, both bedrooms
-Door restoration: remove paint and refinish all doors in the hallway: bathroom & bedrooms