Long Description:Stuart Stark, in his inventory of Oak Bay's Heritage Buildings
calls them, "a little storybook fantasy that appears at the end of
the road". Considered Storybook Architecture.
Patio Court is a cul-de-sac running west of the junction of
Prospect Place and San Carlos Place; on its north side is a series
of five ‘Storybook cottages’. The cottages are
one-and-one-halfstorey, clad in roughcast stucco, and each painted
a different colour. The ensemble is set in a mature
landscape.
Built in 1927, Patio Court is significant as evidence of a distinct
phase of development in Oak Bay – the housing boom which occurred
during the second half of the 1920s. The combined effect of
post-war prosperity, beneficial changes to the property assessment
system brought in by the Municipality, in 1924, and the expansion
of the transport system beyond the streetcar line resulted in new
house construction, particularly in those areas of Oak Bay that had
not been easily accessible before. The land on which Patio Court
stands was originally part of the estate of Joseph Despard
Pemberton, former Surveyor General of the Colony of Vancouver
Island; in 1898 it was owned by architects F. M. Rattenbury and J.
G. Tiarks who had recognized the potential value of the Oak Bay
waterfront property and purchased land extending from Oak Bay
Avenue eastward to present-day San Carlos Avenue.
Patio Court is important for its architectural style and rarity,
it is one of only two examples of the Storybook Style in the
Municipality. This style is relatively rare, having appeared in the
early 1920s and faded by the Great Depression; it had its origins
in the whimsical make-believe world of southern California,
particularly Hollywood, and the romantic swashbuckling costume
dramas of the era. This was an era of period revivals in
architecture, and the Storybook Style attempted to create a sense
of the fantasy of fairytale buildings and medieval castles which
ordinary Americans had seen for the first time while in Europe
during the First World War. As economics dictated that houses of
the time were generally modest, they often assumed a Storybook
cottage appearance that provided a romantic ideal of traditional
domesticity. While modest by comparison with some Storeybook houses
in California, Patio Court's houses display such style
characteristics as lancet windows, half-timbering, and pepperpot
turrets. Such a grouping of five houses is uncommon in Oak Bay; it
has been owned by the same family since it was purchased from the
original owner.
The heritage value of the Patio Court cluster is associated with
its architects, Karl Branwhite Spurgin (1877-1936) and John Graham
Johnson (1882–1945). Spurgin immigrated to Canada in 1911, where he
worked as a draftsman and outside superintendent for H. S.
Griffith. In 1912 he went into partnership with Edmund O. Wilkins
and the firm undertook a number of commissions in Qualicum and
Victoria. After service in the First World War he returned to
Canada and was appointed Superintendent of the Soldiers’ Housing
Scheme in Saanich. Johnson trained in London and emigrated to
Canada in 1914, eventually settling in Victoria; as the Resident
Architect for the Canadian Pacific Railway he supervised
construction of the Banff Springs Hotel, as well as sections of
Victoria’s Empress Hotel. In addition to Patio Court, Spurgin &
Johnson designed the Moderne-style storefront for Gibson’s Ladies’
Wear (1931), and the Mount Baker Block (1932) – both in Oak
Bay.
Patio Court is an integral component of the San Carlos
Avenue/Prospect Place heritage cluster and makes an important
contribution to the ambiance and streetscape of the area. Prospect
Place, which is a winding lane with no sidewalks, has the
appearance of being in the country even though it is only one block
away from busy Beach Drive. Patio Court complements the romantic
old-world idyll that Francis Mawson Rattenbury and John G. Tiarks
planned for Prospect Place which they designed in what was Oak
Bay's first planned subdivision.
CHARACTER DEFINING ELEMENTS:
Key elements that define the heritage character of the cluster
at Patio Court include their:
- location in a cul-de-sac at the junction of Prospect Place and
San Carlos Avenue
- setting in relation to one another and as an integral parts of
a whole
- form, scale and massing
- hollow-tile construction and concrete foundations
- steeply-pitched hipped roofs, with paired cross gables
- cladding of painted rough-cast stucco
- style details such as: exposed rafter tails (on 3 central
cottages); round-arched openings onto courtyard; pepperpot turrets
(end cottages); tall brick chimney-stacks, partially stuccoed on
2390
- exterior architectural elements such as: ‘courts’ at the
principal entrance; flat- and hip-roofed dormers;
- fenestration, and window types such as: single-and
multiple-assembly; diamond-pane leaded lights; lancets; angled
bays
- landscape features including mature coniferous and deciduous
tree and shrubs, meandering footpaths.