Description of Historic Place

The Hamilton Residence is a one-and-one-half storey wood-frame Craftsman style house situated on the north bank of the Gorge Waterway in the Tillicum area of Saanich.

Heritage Value

The Hamilton Residence is a valued part of maritime recreational history in Greater Victoria. Originally designed as a family home for Richard Eric and Alice Stewart Hamilton, this house and its relationship to the Gorge Waterway have provided the ideal location for a succession of boating-related businesses and organizations since its construction in 1923.

The historic use of this place for nautical activities by such organizations as the Hamilton's Gorge Park Boat House and gas pump, Rodd Brothers Launch and Boat Builders, and the Victoria Canoe and Kayak Club is significant, as it illustrates the continued importance of the recreational and commercial use of the Gorge Waterway in local history. Tillicum is bounded by the salt water of Portage Inlet and the Gorge Waterway to the west and south. It was an agricultural area during colonial times, but with its proximity to downtown Victoria, became one of the earliest residential areas in Saanich. The Gorge was a summertime recreational destination from the 1890s to the 1930s. A single-family housing boom prior to World War One was enabled by the extension of Victoria's water services to the area.

The Hamilton Residence was designed by Samuel Maclure (1860-1929), one of Victoria's most prominent and noted historic architects. Maclure had a profound influence on the development of B.C. architecture, and was a leader in establishing a sophisticated local variation of the Arts and Crafts residential design. A departure from his signature style of Tudor Revival and Arts and Crafts designs, here the Craftsman style is evidenced in the Arts and Crafts design elements such as the broad side-gabled roof with large gabled dormers on the front and back slopes of the roof, two small gables on the street side, stucco and half-timbering in the upper gables, and high-quality detailing.

Source: Heritage Planning Files, District of Saanich

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the Hamilton Residence include its:
- location on the Gorge Waterway, and the relationship between the house and the water
- form, scale and massing
- use of the Craftsman style, as seen in such elements as the broad gables, half-timbering, multi-paned double-hung wood-sash and casement windows, shallow sleeping porch on the water-side dormer, and detailed craftsmanship
- interior elements such as spatial configurations and historic finishes contemporary with the original construction