Location

Beautiful Vancouver Island and Victoria

Vancouver island is the largest island off the coast of The Americas. With a population of 870,000, it is the second most populous island in Canada -after the island of Montreal. It is the largest Pacific island east of New Zealand. The southern end of the island is the only part of Canada that lies south of the 49th parallel.

Vancouver Island has been homeland to indigenous peoples for thousands of years. The Coast Salish are the largest of the southern groups presently. Nations within the Coast Salish peoples on the island include the Chemainus, the Comox, the Cowichan, the Esquimalt, the W̱SÁNEĆ,  and Snuneymuxw, the Songhees of the Victoria area. Our house is on unceded Lekwungen territory.

Europeans began to explore the island in 1774, when rumors of Russian fur traders caused Spain to send expeditions to assert long-held claims to the Pacific Northwest. Vancouver Island was Spain’s only holding in present day Canada. Vancouver Island came to the attention of Britain after the third voyage of Captain James Cook, who spent a month in 1778 at Nootka Sound. The fur trade began expanding into the island; this would eventually lead to permanent settlement. The island has a diverse migration history including Hawaiians, Japanese, Chinese, Icelanders, Portuguese, and freed slaves, gold prospectors and draft dodgers from south of the 49th parallel. It is Canada’s most British city- the last to switch the rules of the road. To learn more about the Douglas Treaties and their impact read Sarah Petrescu’s Times Colonist article .

Funky Fernwood

We had the dumb luck of subletting a house in Fernwood in the winter of 2018. We realized at once the neighborhood suited us. It was not by accident that Fernwood came to be so walkable, green and neighborly. The location above the town, the ridge whose Garry oaks march all the way to Cadboro Bay, the plentiful springs, and a settlement that occurred in waves, produced an agreeable and human scale streetscape comprising about 100 blocks. Fernwood thrived then declined - hitting bottom in the 1960’s. Thus was it saved from the rampant development that scarred so many other parts of Victoria. Thanks to the Victoria Heritage Foundation, you can tour the neighborhood’s heritage homes from the comfort of home through their interactive map. Progressive (even anarchist) organizations and individuals found their way here and protected Fernwood through a series of measures whose impact we feel, even if few know who brought them into being.

Paul Phillips

One Fernwood character, Paul Phillips, captured my imagination. I learned about him from Victoria’s most popular elected official (at least in terms of votes garnered) Ben Isitt. Ben wrote about Paul Phillips’ legacy for the Fernwood Community Association’s website. Phillips’ “unorthodox energy” helped form the character of Fernwood. Starting in the 1970’s he went about bringing into being many of the features of the neighborhood that we most cherish. He was a key operative in the Fernwood Neighborhood Program - leveraging federal funds to start community associations, create traffic quieting pocket parks, save heritage buildings (repurposing some into affordable housing) setting up a solar farm (today surviving as the Compost Education Centre) and generally spurring community engagement, creativity and joie de vivre.. We highly recommend the Paul Phillips Legacy Walking Tour. And if Paul’s Fernwood exploits weren’t enough he was an important figure in expanding the food co-op movement across Canada. He co-founded the Amor de Cosmos Co-op in Victoria - named after the visionary, iconoclast second premiere of BC.

Oaklands

When we bought our house we thought the lot lay in Fernwood, one phone call to the Victoria Heritage Foundation disabused us of that notion. Fernwood above Haultain is part of Oaklands. Fact is both are great neighborhoods. Oaklands was settled a tad later than Fernwood. The city describes Oaklands as Oaklands is a family-first neighbourhood full of tree-lined, residential streets and a bustling commercial centre. It is a part of town where neighbors keep an eye out for one another and everybody knows everybody else’s dog’s name. The Victoria Heritage Foundation’s newest interactive walking tour is a great way to get oriented. Pre-reno the house did not make it onto the map. Here’s hoping the improved version someday merits inclusion. From our house a leisurely fifteen minute walk gets you to Fernwood Square, Haultain Corners or Canadian Tire.

Edwardian Vernacular Arts & Crafts

In 1907 designer/builder David Herbert Bale built himself a house at the corner of Stadacona and Fort - a giant rendition of the Edwardian Vernacular Arts & Crafts bungalow that would appear by the thousands in Victoria up to World War I. So many houses of this vintage and style throughout the city (and especially in our neighborhood) gives the streetscape a lively and neighborly dignity. The most important contractor in Fernwood was Parfitt Brothers. Our house is across the street from the Parfitt family home. We thought our house was built by Parfitt Brothers. It turned out is was a “copy” of a Parfitt model. Though covered in stucco, from the first we could see that our place was vernacular arts & crafts. The same day we saw it, we passed an intriguing, utterly modern house nearing completion down the street a ways. From the clients, we learned the architects were Scott & Scott. As soon as we closed, we asked S&S if they would be interested in re-designing our house. They said yes! Lizzie & Nathan befriended us Lizzie is a decorator. Nathan is the mastermind behind Part & Whole, the Victoria based company that made our couch. Scott & Scott are in the proud tradition of island architects like Rattenbury, Maclure, P. Leonard James, Jack Wade and di Castri. More of their work is on this Studio Profile.