I've written twice about this postcard on the Family Photo Reunion Blog. I thought it likely this house had some connection to Emma McCandlish who used this postcard for correspondence. It turns out that Emma did not reside here and doesn't have any known connection to the place. Emma was a society lady in Victoria, B.C. and may have picked up the postcard at a local photographer's shop and simply mailed the picture of a lovely Victoria home to her friend, Mrs W. Harlock at 181 Fort Street.
Jim Wolf, who is familiar with Victoria's old homes and has researched many of them, tells me the architect who designed this house was Samuel McClure. Jim writes,
"I was intrigued by the posting of the photo under “Revisiting the McCandlish House” I couldn’t immediately place the house and then it clicked! This is the Leon U. Conyers house built in 1900 and still located today at 1419 Fort Street in Victoria (at the corner of Carberry). In the background is Craigdarroch Castle. To answer your question about why McCandlish had this postcard - I think the answer is that local photographers made use of their images by printing numbers of them on Postcard stock for sale in stationery stores. I have seen references to bundles of cards with local scenes being sold. This type of card is valued higher because it was not a mass printed card.”
As Jim mentioned, the building is still there, now painted a gorgeous English red colour and looks to be in excellent shape. You can search 1419 Fort Street on Google maps to get a street view of the home today.
Many thanks to Jim for solving this mystery!
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