Description of Historic Place

The Lovatt House at 2030 Milton is a one-storey cottage located in the Poets Corner neighbourhood of Oak Bay.

Heritage Value

The Lovatt House is valued as an important part of the social development and architectural history of Oak Bay. It is architecturally important to the community an example of a small working class cottage with later additions. The cottage is notable as one of a few buildings that were built around the time of Oak Bay's incorporation in 1906.

Its value also lies in its location within one of Oak Bay's earliest residential developments. Part of a cluster of working class homes stimulated by the City of Victoria's suburban expansion in the 1890s, this house is located in the Poets Corner neighbourhood, on the border between Oak Bay and Victoria. The construction of working class houses in this area during the 1890s "mostly on affordable property" was also in response to the extension of the Tramway Company's streetcar line from Victoria to Oak Bay. In addition, this cottage is located on one of the smallest lots in Oak Bay, as 10 feet of the lot was subdivided and transferred to the property at 2020 Milton.

Source: The Corporation of the District of Oak Bay.

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage value of the Lovatt House:
- The close proximity of the house to 2020 Milton Street.
- Additive (3 section) single-storey form and small-scale rectangular massing.
- Hipped roof over the original room of the house, and flat roofs over the later additions (first the kitchen with the small bedroom room, and then the master bedroom, bath and back hallway).
- Intact spatial configurations of the original room, with a central fireplace.
- Authentic interior detailing, such as the woodwork around the doors and casement windows.