Description of Historic Place

Point Ellice House consists of a one-storey Victorian Italianate residence and carriage shed, and Victorian gardens located on a treed parcel of land at the edge of the Gorge Waterway in Victoria, BC.

Heritage Value

Point Ellice House an excellent example of a Victorian Italianate villa owned by one family for more than one hundred years. As the residence of the O'Reilly family from 1867 to 1975, this house portrays the evolution of the social status of a well-to-do Victorian family. The influence of the Victorian period on the scope of the O'Reillys' inhabitancy at this place is reflected in its eclectic architectural development, lavish garden setting, and interior spaces filled with all of the family's possessions. Situated in an area of industrial development, the house survives as a lone monument to what was once one of Victoria's most fashionable residential neighbourhoods.

Source: BC Heritage Branch property files

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of Point Ellice House include:
- the house's location next to the Gorge Waterway, with access to the place from both land and water
- the design of the house as a single storey (plus attic) rambling Victorian Italianate villa with all of its details, such as the shallow-pitched gabled roofs, wide overhanging bracketed eaves, verandahs and porches, medieval style chimneys, tall spacious windows and classical detailing
- the asymmetrical floor plan and spatial configuration of the interior, with its narrow halls and enclosed rooms, and the physical integrity of its finishes, such as floors, wall coverings, ceilings, doors, moldings and architectural hardware
- all of the mature historic garden and landscaping features, which include the croquet/tennis lawns, pathways, rose bushes, flower beds, mature trees and shrubs, and the sequoia tree planted by Peter O'Reilly
- the unobstructed views and relationship between house and garden
- the existing form and materials of the carriage shed