Description du lieu patrimonial

Ross Bay Villa is a one-storey wood-frame residence built in 1865 in a modest Gothic-revival style. It is set back from the road, and straddles two city lots at 1490 Fairfield Road in the City of Victoria, B.C., across the street from the historic Ross Bay Cemetery. The house is set within a re-created garden which contains some early fruit trees, appropriate gravel paths, flower borders, vegetable garden and a circular flowerbed.

The interior layout of the house is original and contains many original and restored features.

Valeur patrimoniale

Ross Bay Villa has historic and aesthetic value as a rare and essentially intact 1860s residence, being one of only approximately a dozen surviving homes extant from the 1860s in the Capital Region of Greater Victoria.

The house has social value as the home of Francis (Frank) and Anna Letitia Roscoe and their five children. Mr. Roscoe was a Victoria businessman and a Member of Parliament for Victoria from 1874 to 1878. He was a strong supporter of British Columbia joining Confederation in 1871.

The house also has social and cultural value due to the thorough research and documentation conducted during its restoration, including research on original wallpapers, paint colours and wood finishes. Information from all of its periods of occupation from 1865 to 1999 (when it was saved from demolition) has been gathered. The research gives a comprehensive record of changing tastes of domestic use during that period. Members of the Ross Bay Villa Society have restored the house to the 1865-1879 period when the Roscoe family lived there which is an example of its value to the local heritage community.

Éléments caractéristiques

Character defining elements may be found in:
- The original shape and massing of the building
- The original siting of the building on the property
- The large amount of original construction materials of the building
- The original exterior extant features of the building, including front door, windows, siding, exterior wood trim, and chimneys; and including the shape, size, and method of construction of those features.
- The original interior floor plan of the house and extant features of the building, including flooring, walls and ceilings, Drawing Room door, interior wood trim, original mantelpieces, original plaster detail on the Dining Room ceiling.
- An original piece of 1860s furniture (bookcase) from the house.
- The exterior features of the building that have been restored to their original appearance, including the wooden roof shingles, the roof finials, the front porch and some windows.
- The interior features of the building have been restored to their original appearance, including walls, woodwork, wallpapers, paint colours and fireplaces.