Helmcken House Arbutus Lodge Room


*HELMCKEN HOUSE - VICTORIA B.C.*

A hundred and forty years ago, this was the heart of my original 3 room log house. A sort of sitting room and family room. Relishing the quiet of this room, Cecilia Helmcken spent a great deal of time here. She even bestowed the grand name Arbutus Lodge on me.

Direct your attention to the display cases on the floor in front of you.

Inside are Helmcken family memories - with many of Cecilia and Dolly's personal effects.

Look in the first trunk. These are some of Cecilia's personal treasures. Follow along to the right. Look at all the bead-work. Some of these were even made by Cecilia's own hands. Her mother, Amelia Douglas, was half Cree you see, and she learned this intricate bead-work from her mother. In fact, almost all the Hudson's Bay women in Fort Victoria loved decorating breeches and moccasins with Stichery and Beadwork. Back then, they had to take such good care of their clothes since there was only one supply ship a year from England.

Just to the right, between the windows, cut into the wall you'll spy a glass panel. Peek inside.

Now I don't look too much like a log house today, but under my plaster skin, what do you see? Yes, logs. It's a typical Hudson's Bay Company style. I'm built from square logs fitted into posts at each of my corners. Look out of this window a moment, and imagine what Cecilia would have seen when I was new. Nearest the house, she sees the well-kept Helmcken orchard and garden. A little further down, where the Empress Hotel now stands, is a smelly mud flat. And beyond that, the infant city of Victoria reaches skyward timber by timber, brick by brick. Oh, a lot has changed since I was built.

A little to the right, near the window, sits Cecilia's sewing machine. One of the very first in British Columbia.

Let your eyes wander through the scene a moment. Come back with me to the early 1860s. Imagine a summer afternoon. Cecilia is taking a break from sewing. Her children are out in the yard playing
and Dr. Helmcken is at his office downtown. Cecilia pens a bit of gossip to her friend Mrs. Tolmie.
"As for Amy, she is as lively as ever, full of talk and mischief. Mrs. Eller is as round as a punch in a vale, so is Mrs. Cridge. And do you know Mrs. Cridge's servant, who married the wooden leg man? Well she is also in the same prolific condition. Many thanks for the nice trees you have been kind enough to send. We had them planted in the front of our house."

She puts her pen down, and pauses to read a letter from her father, James Douglas in the light of the window. He's in the goldrush town of Barkerville, on an official visit.

"My dearest Cecilia, I have received your kind letter and the basket which Momma sent up on the steamer The Otter. The vegetables, fresh butter and turkey are all very nice, and everyone is charmed to see so many good things. I beg you to see that the wine be all well corked and packed. It would never do to miss the steamers as we would have no wine for the bang-out. The miners are flooded out of their lodgings. Kiss Amy and the boy for me, and remember me kindly to the Doctor."

Affectionately yours,
James Douglas

Take a moment now to gaze outside with me - look through the windows. Not much for you to see today, but I can also see the past...

When I was first built there was a very smelly mud flat where the Empress Hotel is! I can see horses, buggies, and orchards, soaring birds, tall ships, and smiling people out enjoying a summer day.

To your right is the Children's Nursery Please come in.

Visit SchoolNet Digital Collections
Produced by Digital Collections Team under contract to Industry Canada.
Content provided by: Heritage Branch, Province of British Columbia.
All graphics, text and html pages copyright Province of British Columbia
Questions or comments: Jennifer Iredale, curator.