Description of Historic Place

Situated on a well treed corner lot, the Johnston House is a front-gabled, 1 1/2 story, Craftsman style building in the Marina area. It has a front gable roof with two dormers, a wide front porch supported by four pillars, and a full basement.

Heritage Value

The Johnston House was built in 1922, and is valued as an example of middle class Oak Bay dwelling of that period and as an important representative of the continued appeal of the Craftsman style of residential construction that continued after World War I.

Though most of the Craftsman style homes were built from 1906-1914, at the height of popularity for this style, many homes in this style were built into the 1920s, when the economy had improved after WW I. Both the house and the garden retain the simplicity of the style they would have had when the house was first built.

The primary value of the house is in its generally intact appearance as an example of an owner-designed and built home of the 1920s. Harry Lloyd Johnston was a surveyor and district engineer with the Canadian National Railway. He is listed as the architect and may also have built the house, as no contractor is listed. The first owner, however, was listed as Mrs. H.L. Johnston; women owned many Oak Bay homes at this time.

Source: The Corporation of the District of Oak Bay

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the Johnston House include:
- low 1 1/2 story massing of the building, with front gabled roof and two dormers
- broad front porch supported by four battered columns clad in stucco
- board and batten cladding on the main floor and shingle cladding on the basement and second floor
- overhanging bay windows on north and south facades
- multi-paned windows - some leaded - of the upper sashes of the double hung window assemblies
- exterior brick chimney
- interior granite fireplace in the study
- well-treed, simply landscaped garden setting