223 Robert Street

223 Robert Street, built in 1903-04, is valued architecturally as a particularly fine example of the transition between Victorian and Edwardian versions of the Queen Anne style; as such it was declared in 1991 a National Historic Site, one of the few privately owned houses to be so recognized in Canada. It is an excellent example of the residential work of the architectural partnership of Thomas Hooper and C. Elwood Watkins, whose designs are responsible for many buildings in downtown Victoria; and of the fine work of builder Duncan McBeath.

The house exemplifies the quality of timber and millwork available from the Victoria firm of Muirhead and Mann, the firm that supplied the millwork for the British Columbia Parliament Buildings. The house was built for Muirhead's newlywed son, James McLaren Muirhead and his bride Ella Lowe, and exemplifies a fashionable suburban residence built for the second generation of a family that had had considerable success in trade and manufacturing.

Its subsequent history as a run-down rooming house almost lost to 1970s development pressures, but saved by the City and a dedicated new owner, points to the early history and enthusiasm of the heritage movement, both public and private, in Victoria.