Description of Historic Place

The House of All Sorts is a two-storey residential apartment house situated at the front of a large garden lot on Simcoe Street near Beacon Hill Park in Victoria.

Heritage Value

The House of All Sorts is valuable to the heritage of British Columbia because it is one of the most tangible surviving connections to the life of Emily Carr, a well-known author and one of Canada's most famous painters.

Although this place inspired and sheltered the creation of some of Emily Carr's most important works of art and writing (such as her 1944 book, The House of All Sorts) this 1913 house also represents other significant aspects of her life: the difficulty she experienced in supporting herself as an artist, and the exclusion she experienced from the Victoria community. The fact that Emily commissioned this house to supplement her painting is important because it reflects the balancing act of art and subsistence that she struggled with throughout her life. Evidence of her eccentric and reclusive dual lifestyle can be best seen in the attic of the house. A pair of Northwest Coast native style eagles and eight frogs, painted by Emily on the underside of the roof shingles, provided her a sort of symbolic protection when she lived in the small attic. Often during her thirty-two years here her carefully designed art studio on the upper storey of the house was rented out to provide her with more income. It is this juxtaposition of art and hardship which is most important to the heritage significance of the House of All Sorts and its connection with Emily Carr.

The history of the land on which this house was built is an integral part of its heritage value because it was once part of the Carr family estate, the place where Emily lived, dreamed and explored as a child. The relationships of this house to Beacon Hill Park, and to other nearby houses once owned by members of the Carr family are significant reflections of the physical and familial ties that Emily had to this place even before she commissioned the design and construction of the House of All Sorts.

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the House of All Sorts include:

- the atypical situation of the house at the front of the lot, close to the street
- the large rear garden
- the surviving elements of the design and basic layout relevant to its 1913 construction, including the main floor apartments and upper-storey studio
- the eagles and frogs painted on the underside of the roof shingles
- the physical evidence of Emily Carr's residence and life in this house, seen in such elements as pencil notations on the attic walls
- the attic as it was when occupied by Emily Carr