Coulson House

The Coulson House is a front gabled, one and one-half storey 1913 Craftsman Bungalow with a full width inset porch, an asymmetrical front door and shingle exterior cladding. It is located mid-block on Meadow Place, a narrow street with tree planting, gardens, and houses of a similar time period and scale in the Poet's Corner area of Oak Bay, B.C. Situated close to the street, the wide front stairs of the house extend nearly to the sidewalk.

Built in 1913 for the Coulson family, the has aesthetic value as a good example of a contractor-built Craftsman home of the era. Its features include a gable roof with dormers, large front porch, pillars on rough granite piers, leaded windows and wood shingles. Interior features include wood detailing and a fireplace of an unusual cast stone design.

The Coulson House also has social value for its association with the Coulson family. The Coulsons were a working-class family who lived nearby and, periodically, in the house itself and were involved in local politics as signatories to the petition to create the separate municipal entity of Oak Bay. The home's modest size is important for reflecting these working-class roots.

This residence has historic value for its association with the installation of streetcar lines in the area. It was one of the homes built for families who moved to the area after the streetcar lines were installed in the late 1890s along Cadboro Bay Road and later, along Oak Bay Avenue. On this cul de sac, ten other homes of various styles were built during this early period of Oak Bay's development, of which half still survive today.

Originally part of an agricultural section on the former Pemberton Estate that included a nursery with greenhouses and a small dairy, the house is significant for its construction at a time when Meadow Place was evolving from a rural to residential area. During the economic boom between 1904 and 1914, lots were subdivided north of Oak Bay Avenue, taking advantage of the earlier streetcar lines. The home contributes historically and architecturally to the cluster of early 20th century houses built in one of Oak Bay's farmland areas during this significant period of development in the greater Victoria area.

The renting of the house to tradesmen, tug boat owners, government clerks and their families, as well as employees working in offices of the newly formed municipality and the Oak Bay Public Works Yard is a symbol of the changes to society brought about by an economic downturn and World War I, both of which occurred shortly after the house was built.

SOURCE: The Corporation of the District of Oak Bay Planning Department

The elements that define the character of Coulson House include its:

-Full width inset/recessed porch with asymmetrical front door and wide front stairs

-Three wooden double columns supporting the porch on rough granite piers

-Decorative board and batten with scalloped trim above porch

-Large gabled dormers on both sides of front gabled roof with exposed soffits and large brackets

-Leaded glass on the living room and dining room sash windows

-Interior features including the original cast stone living room fireplace, built in leaded glass cabinets in the dining room, fir flooring, intact woodwork of crown moulding in the dining and living rooms, and wainscoting in the dining room.