The Heritage Detective: The hidden stories of ordinary Victorians who did extraordinary things, Volume One
By Helen Edwards; Edwards Heritage Consulting, 282 pages, $25
Helen Edwards has been researching the people and buildings of Victoria for decades, so it should come as no surprise that she has written one of the most comprehensive books on local history in years.
In The Heritage Detective, Edwards tells the stories of many remarkable buildings – commercial locations, private homes, seniors’ residences, government buildings, churches, and more.
Of course, the buildings exist because of people, so her book includes biographical information on more than 500 people.
The built heritage is at the core of the book. While some of the featured buildings are the ones we would expect – the Parliament Buildings, for example, or the well-known structures along Douglas Street downtown – the real thrill is found on the road less travelled, one might say.
Edwards takes the reader along with a personal, conversational manner. Take, for example, her words about 617 Vancouver Street:
“This building has always fascinated me,” she writes. “It is a commercial building set in what is essentially a residential area, so I decided to research its history.”
The structure was designed and built as a service station in 1911, just eight years after E.C. Hart drove the first automobile along the streets of Victoria. The first operator was Henry Angus Davie, a native of County Durham in England who came to Canada in 1910.
After Davie died in 1923, David William Atkinson took over. When he died in 1931, his son Thomas became the third operator, working there until his death in 1978.
More recently, the building housed Lou’s Auto Repair.”
That is, in brief, just a taste of the information Edwards has collected and published in this book. The structure at 617 Vancouver St. might seem like just a small commercial building in an odd spot — the corner of Vancouver and Collinson — but there is a rich history there.
And on just about every other corner, for that matter.
Another example: Edwards tells of William Harbeck, known for his 1907 movie of downtown Victoria. He died on the Titanic just five years later, leaving behind a couple of lawsuits and a confused wife.
The book includes a map of Harbeck’s route along the streetcar line. More maps would have helped readers locate the buildings featured.
Some of the stories here were featured over the years in small local publications. Edwards says about 35 per cent of the stories include old material, but she has done additional research to bring the stories up to date.
She says that she added many buildings that she found interesting, especially the ones that have, for some reason, escaped the destruction of old homes.
Edwards spent about nine months working on this project, and by the time she was done she had too much material for one book. She is serious about this being volume one – the second volume is due in a couple of months.
And the best part? She is donating all proceeds to Canuck Place Children’s Hospice.
The Heritage Detective will be an important resource for anyone researching Victoria’s history. And for everyone, it’s a fine read.
The reviewer is editor and publisher of the Times Colonist
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