The History of The Gatsby Mansion Hotel

The Gastby Mansion Hotel is a unique collection of three history heritage properties on Victoria's inner harbour including The Gatsby Mansion, Middle House, and The Judges House. The buildings are former homes to some of the individuals who helped found Victoria and shape its future. We are excited to share this history with you.

The Gatsby Mansion

In 1875 William J. Pendray came to Victoria to invest the moneies he made from the gold rush. He invested his money in a soap plant at the corner of Douglas and Humboldt streets, behind the site the Fairmont Empress occupies today. (The Empress hotel stands on reclaimed land.) The factory manufactured a well-known product called “White Swan Soap.”

Amelia Jane Carthew joined him from England in 1877. They were married the day after she arrived in Victoria, and the couple had four children, Ernest, Carl, Herbert, and Roy.

In about 1890, Pendray bought a block of property on Belleville Street, which today is called Belleville Park. It had a small cottage on it (today known as the Middle House). The family lived in this home while their new Mansion was being built.

The new home was a lovely structure in the Queen Anne style, with all the trappings of a grand Victorian home. Pendray commissioned two German painters, Herr Sterns and Herr Muller, to paint frescos on the ceilings of some of the rooms, including the parlour, the dining room, and two of the bedrooms. You can see them today. Panes of stained glass were shipped from Italy in barrels of molasses so that they would not break.

Always up-to-date, Pendray had the first telephone in a private residence in BC installed in his home—a direct line to his factory.

Pendray sold the land his factory was on to the CPR just after the turn of the century, and the Empress Hotel, completed in 1908, was built in its place. He moved his factory to Laurel Point, sold his interests in soap manufacture to Lever Brothers in Vancouver, and founded the British America Paint Company (BAPCO).

Pendray died in 1913. He was inspecting his factory when a pipe fell 40 feet and struck him on the head, killing him instantly. Four years earlier, his eldest son, Ernest, had been killed when he was thrown from a horse on Belleville Street, just outside the family home.

Mrs. Pendray lived in the house until her death in 1937 at the age of 87. In 1939, the house was sold to Mrs. M A Lewis for $4500 (the family had been asking $5000). Mrs. Lewis bequeathed it to the Missionary Sisters of Notre Dame des Anges, who ran the home as a boarding house for young women, known as Loretto Hall, until 1966.

In 1970 the house changed hands again, and became known as the Captain’s Palace, a restaurant and (later) a small bed and breakfast.

The house was sold once more in 1997, and it was renamed the Gatsby Mansion after F Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby. The restaurant now offers memorable, classic fine dining with an innovative West Coast flair. The three houses each have their own unique character and have a selection of accommodation for guests who want to relive Victoria’s past.

History of the Middle House

This cottage was built in 1872, and originally stood on the site of the old Pendray home, now the Gatsby Mansion. Mr. Pendray was a gardener at heart and to entertain his grandchildren he carved topiaries and “Pendray’s Gardens” became something of a tourist attraction, and were featured on postcards. The topiary now in place was replanted by his descendants in 1980.

The house changed hands again in 1997, and now houses a selection of boutiques on the ground floor, and two cozy bed and breakfast rooms on the second floor. Today it houses the administrative offices for Belleville Park, a Wine & Beer Shoppe and has two delightful rooms which are part of the Gatsby collection.

History of the Judge’s House

In 1872 Alexander Blair Grey and his new wife, Emma Blair, came to Victoria to set up their home. Mr. Grey had planned to make his fortune in the Caribou gold rush, however when that didn’t work out, he started a dry goods company in Victoria. They eventually had two sons and two daughters. By 1876 Grey had been appointed a Justice of the Peace, an important position in the growing town, and had branched out his business to include liquor and tobacco. He had purchased a piece of land at the corner of Belleville and Oswego Streets, and in 1877 his new home was completed.

The new home created a bit of a stir in colonial Victoria, being rather large and splendid for a city, which, despite being the capital of the new province, was still a small frontier town. The Colonist newspaper reported the exact dimensions and use of each room.

Grey lost his fortune in a crash in 1893. The fine home had to be sold, and Grey took a position in Nelson, leaving his wife and an unmarried daughter in Victoria. The disappointed Grey died in Nelson in 1902, at the age of 61. He was buried in Victoria.

When the Grey home was sold, a remarkable young Victorian bought the house. George R Jackson was a young and very successful tailor. His suits were a byword among Victoria’s smart young men. He had been married on New Year’s Day, 1892, to Robina Stephens, so the house was available at just the right time. His tailoring business continued to grow, but just before the turn of the century he decided to try his hand at something new. He moved his family to the USA, and to everyone’s surprise graduated as a medical doctor. However, he did not go into practice, but turned back to business, producing a breakfast food called Roman Meal, and became a millionaire.

Back in Victoria, a young lawyer named Gordon Hunter home had bought the old home. Hunter soon became Chief Justice of British Columbia, and it is for him that the house is known as the Judge’s House. He served as Chief Justice for 25 years and in that time many titled persons and dignitaries were entertained in the house, including Prime Minister Mackenzie King. Today Chief Justice Hunter is remembered for his high order of ability, and his rare combination of talent, powerful intelligence, penetrating eye, and formidable vocabulary.

After Hunter’s death in 1929, the house was run by the Missionary Sisters of Notre Dame des Anges as a boarding house known as Belleville Lodge. The same nuns would later take over the old Pendray home next door. In the 1970’s, the house was a tourist attraction—the “Haunted Mansion.”

In 1997, the house changed hands again, and today the Judge’s House adds to the collection with eight elegant rooms.