The newly renovated, modernist home of Valerie and Bryan Murray is located in a character building filled with interesting characters — including lawyers, doctors, music scholars and artists.
Situated at the foot of Cook Street, overlooking Beacon Hill Park, their condo occupies one-third of the top floor of a century-old Tudor Revival building.
It has 16 suites and is described in the Canada’s Historic Places registry as having been “the most elegant apartment block in the city” when it was constructed.
It’s an attractive building and it has a romantic past, too, which began when Dr. Arthur Pallant commissioned architect George Mesher to design an elegant apartment for the retired dentist and his lady love, with servants quarters in the basement.
“Pallant called it Hampton Court because she was his princess,” said Valerie, adding he was in love with the architect’s sister, a divorcée. The two never married but lived in adjoining suites and she remained there after his sudden accidental death, just two years after the building was completed.
The resident who now lives in the divorcée’s former suite, keeps a picture of her there, in keeping with Pallant’s wish.
After Pallant’s 1915 death, the building passed to his son and daughter. It was sold in 1958 to the Duke of Westminster, who also owned Mayfair Shopping Centre at the time, and then changed hands twice more.
When threatened with demolition in 1976 the tenants lobbied against it and managed to save the building, which was renovated in the early 1980s and is now a strata.
Moving to the condo meant downsizing by about 1,000 square feet for the Murrays, who previously lived in Uplands on a lush half-acre garden. “We were there for 23 years and it was the right size for us with four children, but we were rattling around in it recently,” said Valerie.
While sorry to leave her well-loved property, she doesn’t miss it because she is chief gardener at Government House. She has a long history in public gardens here and was previously head gardener at Abkhazi Gardens for eight years, and before that in charge of the winter garden at the Horticulture Centre of the Pacific.
“In my garden at home, I was spending more and more time thinking about problem solving, and it reminded me of something Thomas Hobbs once said about the difference between creating and curating. I don’t need to own a garden anymore.
“There are lots of opportunities to be creative at Government House and I am very happy being a steward now, not an owner.”
Of course, before making the big move she took several species of rhodos and interesting perennials and tucked them into beds at Government House, or gave them to lucky friends. (See separate story.)
Another reason Valerie and Bryan don’t miss their former garden is the high ceilings in their new home, the bay windows and expansive views of Beacon Hill Park: “When we sit in the living room, we look across to a canopy of trees and feel we have our very own Central Park. And it’s the best play park in Victoria for our three grandchildren.
“Our new home feels like a house in the sky … and the atrium is a wonderful luxury of interior space, too,” she said.
Bryan said they had enjoyed visiting the building in the past, as friends live there, so when the condo became available, “it was a no-brainer” to buy it.
“Even if we had stayed in our previous house and renovated, it would never have provided the higher quality of life this does,” he said, adding his wife is passionate about interior design so the move has been a very happy and creative process.
“I don’t think there is another place in Victoria where I would prefer to live. And we are walking much more, so it’s a good fitness program.
“I was just looking at a recent medical study which found you can decrease the risk of stoke by 66 per cent if you walk three hours a day. And we do that sometimes now, walking downtown, to the ocean, the village,” said the family doctor, who also owns Victoria Spirits Ltd., which produces craft-distilled Victoria Gin, hemp vodka and whisky.
They don’t mind the stairs, either.
“One of our neighbours is 90 and just gave up playing tennis,” said Valerie, who also enjoys walking to Government House and the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.
She is also a keen supporter of the Victoria Conservatory of Music and recently held a small concert in the building’s three-storey atrium, with a reception afterwards in their sky-view condo.
“We wouldn’t have been able to host a concert like that unless the people living here were open to the idea, so kudos to the residents for supporting it. That’s such a bonus, because there’s nothing like enjoying music in an intimate space — and the atrium has wonderful acoustics.”
The Murrays’ 2,000-square-foot condo has expansive views to the north and west, gleaming 100-year-old fir floors and both a front and back door.
They painted the master bedroom walls a soft green — “It looks divine in the early morning light” — and hung a hand-dyed and hand-woven rug from Romania behind the bed. It features snowdrops, roses, lily-of-the-valley and wheat.
“I don’t think of myself as a designer, but I like mixing things together,” said Valerie, who combines antiques and modern pieces, natural fabrics and wood, as well as found items and a few precious things — all with a touch of humour, as seen in her numerous eggs, nests and bird themes.
On one wall is a piece of Art Deco grillwork from the Marine Building on Vancouver’s Burrard Street. A hint of Italy can be seen in a convex mirror they found in Venice, and nearby is a lampshade made from coral with a clear glass stand that looks like a jellyfish.
Instead of built-ins, their closet has matching chests of drawers found at the auction, for $50 each.
Their kitchen has a Mondrian mood thanks to a unique composition of cabinets and horizontal lines.
“We first thought we would have an Ikea kitchen, but this idea was inspired by avant-garde French architect Charlotte Perriand,” Valerie said. Perriand worked with Corbusier and designed tubular furniture as well interesting shelving and cabinets.
A rug in England, designed by German-American textile artist Annie Albers, inspired the kitchen palette of red, grey and yellow, and cabinetmaker Doug Grant “was brilliant” at translating all their ideas into practical reality.
They didn’t want a microwave but Valerie hungered for cutting boards, so Grant created spring-loaded, pullout versions in maple, and lined all the drawers in wood. “It’s like wearing fur on the inside of your coat.
“And we had a wonderful, small construction company called Hansenbuilt, which brought the three-month project in on time and on budget,” she said.
Bryan added the location is more interesting than their previous one, and he never minds the traffic noise.
“I grew up with street racers in Chilliwack so when I hear a motorcycle roar by on its way to the Moka House, I’m not bothered. I tend to wonder what kind of bike it is.”