A home with ties to the region’s history as an outpost for the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) has received municipal heritage protection.
The home located at 3956 Stan Wright Lane received the designation last week following an unanimous council vote. Coun. Vicki Sanders, who owns the home with her husband William Sanders, declared a conflict of interest on matter.
The new designation means council must approve future alterations to the exterior of the building, which also becomes eligible for future assistance from the Saanich Heritage foundation for improvements.
The house stands on land that HBC once owned, and represents early farm settlements in the Lake Hill area. The land around the building was once part of the North Dairy Farm, one of three HBC farms in the Greater Victoria region. The lot emerged out of a 1901 sub-division.
Muriel and Albert Evans were the first owners of this house built in 1937. Stanley Victor Wright (1906-2001), a prominent periodical distributor on Vancouver Island, and his wife Margaret (née Wilson), whose family first settled in Victoria in 1859, purchased the home in 1958. Coun. Sanders is Wright’s daughter.
The property remained a productive holly farm until the mid-1960s. Raised and renovated in 2008, the home received the 2011 Hallmark Society Award of Merit.
