14 Victoria sites connected to the Patricks

From 1911 onward, members of the Patrick family lived in Victoria, British Columbia, where they started the Pacific Coast Hockey Association. At least 14 sites in and around the city are connected to the family, including six surviving buildings.

THE RINK

Victoria Arena (aka Willows Arena, Patrick Arena), 2110 Cadboro Bay Road, Oak Bay

The rink that was home to Victoria’s PCHA team was built in 1911 on the northeast corner of Cadboro Bay Road and Empress Street (now Epworth Street) in Oak Bay. 

It was designed by Thomas Hooper, reportedly cost $110,000, and had a capacity of 4,000. Lester Patrick was its manager until he moved to New York in 1926 to coach the Rangers, at which point his brother Stan took over. The advance ticket office, curiously, was not in the arena. More on that later.

Victoria Daily Colonist, Aug. 13, 1911

The arena’s grand opening was on Christmas Day 1911 and the first league game took place on Jan. 2, 1912, which was also the first match played on artificial ice in Canada. In 1916, the military commandeered the building, forcing the hockey club to move to Spokane, but a new team was formed in 1918 and returned to the arena. The building is also noteworthy as the site of the 1925 Stanley Cup final, which Victoria won, becoming the last BC-based team to claim the prize. After the league to which Victoria belonged folded in 1926, a new professional Victoria team played in the arena in 1928-29.

The arena burned down on Nov. 11, 1929, along with four homes. Very few images of it exist — to my knowledge, just the two seen here, plus a few more showing the aftermath of the fire

(Image D-07151 courtesy Royal BC Museum and Archives)

On May 25, 2001, a cairn was unveiled commemorating Victoria’s 1925 Stanley Cup win in front of Oak Bay Secondary, across the street from the arena site, where an apartment building was constructed in 1955, which has the address 2100 Cadboro Bay Road.

The cairn ceremony included a visit by the Stanley Cup. On hand were retired NHL players Geoff and Russ Courtnall and organizer David Sly. Incredibly, the monument was unveiled by two men who were rink attendants at the arena more than 70 years earlier, Bernie Rogers and Harry Bates.

“I was one of the rink rats that scraped the ice,” Rogers, who died in 2011 at age 99, once told Tom Hawthorn of the Victoria Times Colonist. “The arena was like a big chicken coop. Scraping the ice was not for a weakling. We were all strong-legged. We would start at one end at the end of a period and we’d push right across the ice and through the back door.”

Bates, who died in 2005, age 96, told Darron Kloster of the same paper that Lester Patrick didn’t give the rink staff any special treatment over tickets to the Stanley Cup final: “No, he said go outside and wait in line. The six of us sat out there all day long, but we did get them.”

The cairn, seen in 2022.

The apartment building on the site of the rink, seen in 2022.

When I took these pictures, the text had become quite difficult to read, but a refurbished monument was unveiled in 2025 to mark the 100th anniversary of Victoria’s Stanley Cup win.

HOMES

154 South Turner

This house in James Bay was the first that the Patrick family lived in when they moved to Victoria, something we know thanks to the 1911 census, which shows Joseph and Grace Patrick residing there with kids Dora, Myrtle, Guy, and Stan.

The house is still standing and its history, aside from the Patrick connection, is well documented. It was built in 1896 by George C. Mesher using a plan out of a pattern book, and was just one of many buildings Mesher designed or built in Victoria, including the Pemberton Block (of which see more below).

This was in fact Mesher’s own home, and he lived there with his wife until 1903. Subsequently it was home to Alfred and Minna Briggs, from whom the Patricks apparently rented it. It remained in the Briggs family from 1904 to 2005. The house received heritage designation in 1999 and is still standing.

154 South Turner in 2022.

425 Michigan (Cyn-Do-Myr)

By April 1912, Joseph and Grace Patrick moved to this home, which was originally numbered 110 Michigan but became 425 Michigan by 1909. James Roberts built the house around 1888, and it was successively occupied by Rev. Patrick McLeod and his wife (1888-91), senator and future lieutenant-governor Thomas R. McInnes and his wife (1895-96), Victoria Colonist editor C.H. Lugrin (1901-03), Florence Twigg (1905), and realtor Robert J. Harlow (1909-11).

425 Michigan (then still 110 Michigan), circa 1900, with Mr. and Mrs. Roberts and Miss Homer on the porch. (Image M08919 courtesy of City of Victoria Archives)

The Patricks dubbed the home Cyn-Do-Myr (also spelled or misspelled Cyn-do-Myr, Cyndomyr, and Syn-do-Myr) after daughters Cynda, Dora, and Myrtle. Naming your house was an English custom and the Victoria civic directory even carried an alphabetical listing of “Private residence names”! Cyn-Do-Myr was first included in 1914.

In The Patricks: Hockey’s Royal Family, p. 114, Eric Whitehead called Cyn-Do-Myr “A large, solid but unpretentious manor … with its great bay windows and fine mahogany paneling,” but looking at the photos, it’s amazing what passed for unpretentious back then!

425 Michigan on the 1913 Victoria fire insurance plan.

At various times, the occupants included Joe and Grace; their sons Ted, Guy, and Stan; daughter Myrtle; daughter Dora, her husband Gordon Strickland, and their daughter Beryl; Joe’s brother Feather; and apparently sons Lester and Frank, who were listed there in the 1913 civic directory, even though Frank otherwise lived in Vancouver and Lester and his wife had their own house.

By February 1924, the building was turned into the four-unit Cyn-Do-Myr apartments, managed by Stan Patrick, who continued to live there with his wife through 1930. I don’t know how much longer the Patricks owned the building, but the name Cyn-Do-Myr continued to show up in civic directories through 1959.

425 Michigan as the Cyn-Do-Myr Apartments in the 1950s. (Image M02860 courtesy of City of Victoria Archives)

The building remained occupied until 1963, then stood vacant for one year, then was demolished to make way for two new apartment buildings, Charter House and Regent Towers. The new buildings variously used 415, 425, and 435 Michigan as their addresses.

Regent Towers, 415 Michigan, circa 1960s. (Image M04587 courtesy of City of Victoria Archives)

Looking at the fire insurance plan of 1913 and noting how far back Cyn-Do-Myr was set from the street, my best guess is that the site of the house was actually turned into a parking lot until the construction of a more recent housing development, Cove Townhomes, which now gives its address as 425 Michigan.

(Adding to the confusion, a different house built in 1943 was assigned the number 110 Michigan. It was demolished on April 27, 1978.)

Cove Townhomes under construction in 2022, next to Regent Towers.

516 Harbinger

This house was the first one that Lester and Grace Patrick lived in as newlyweds when they moved to Victoria in 1911, a fact that we once again only know thanks to the census of that year. They roomed with Agnes O’Keefe and her son Jack.

In 1964, longtime Victoria newspaper columnist James K. Nesbitt told the story of the house’s construction. O’Keefe was his grandmother. He said she sold her former home on Fort Street in 1910 to two prominent citizens who offered her a huge sum, and used her windfall to commission architect Thomas Hooper (the same guy who would soon design the Victoria Arena) to come up with plans for a new house on Harbinger.

While the house was under construction, she went off to visit her native Newfoundland for the first time since she had arrived in Victoria in 1887. She expected the home to be ready when she returned. But she arrived six months later to discover the house was on the wrong lot. The people who owned the property, however, were not bothered. “They’d simply trade lots and all live happily ever after,” Nesbitt wrote. “Grandmother got the better lot — high up on a rock, with a view of the sea and mountains from the south side.”

Lester and Grace got to enjoy that view, but for less than a year.

516 Harbinger in a BC Assessment photo from 2019.

322 Vancouver

Lester and Grace next moved to this house, which was built no later than 1909. Significantly, it was the birthplace of Lynn Patrick, who arrived on Feb. 3, 1912. The family stayed here through at least 1915. The house was demolished on June 30, 1969, but a photo of it survives, seen below. An apartment building went up on the site that is now numbered 964 Heywood Avenue.

322 Vancouver between 1959 and 1974. (Image M05450 courtesy of City of Victoria Archives)

1020 Fairfield

Lester and Grace lived here from at least 1915-18, and on June 28, 1915, it became the birthplace of their second son, Murray (Muzz). The house was built by 1904, and was demolished on Oct. 23, 1975. I haven’t been able to find a photo of it. An apartment building went up on the site the following year, which is now numbered 1024 Fairfield, seen below.

242 Linden

Lester and Grace bought this Craftsman bungalow by early 1920. It was designed by architect E.E. Green in 1913 and had previously been home to Don Morton (1914) and Mr. and Mrs. A.E. Matheson (1916). 

Lester lived here until his death in 1960 — although between 1926 and 1948, he was in New York a good portion of the year running the Rangers. Grace continued to live here until 1972, when she moved to Connecticut to be closer to her sons. The house was then put up for sale. The real estate ad called it an “Older but charming, 4-bedroom home. Beamed ceilings, gleaming oak floors throughout. Living room — fireplace, dining room — built in china cabinet — chandeliers — den — plus separate breakfast room.” 

The house is still standing and is included on the Victoria Heritage Foundation’s Fairfield walking tour, which notes that it was once Lester’s.

242 Linden in 2024.

950 Joan Crescent

Joseph and Grace Patrick moved here around 1927 from Cyn-Do-Myr. The home is on the Rockland Heritage Walking Tour, which says it was “built for Joseph Patrick, a retired gentleman.” No mention of what he had done before retirement or who his sons were! “It has very clean lines with little ornamentation, likely influenced by architectural trends in Europe at the time.”

In Upstarts and Outcasts: Victoria’s Not-So-Proper Past, Valerie Green writes about Esther Timmens Carlsen, who worked as a domestic servant for the Patricks, both at Cyn-Do-Myr and on Joan Crescent: “She was called upon to do everything, including using their new electric stove which for her was a daunting experience since she had never used one before. Although she lived in the home, she had to eat alone and was never made to feel a part of the family. She stayed only a few months before moving on.”

Joe and Grace celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in this house in 1933. Grace died in 1939, after which Joe went to live with his son Stan in Vancouver and the house was rented to Janet Hamilton, who died in 1941, the same year as Joe.

The Patrick family gathered at 950 Joan Crescent on May 7, 1933 to mark Joe and Grace Patrick’s golden wedding anniversary. Back row: Lester, Cynda, Ted, Dora, Frank. Front row: Stan, Joe, Grace, Myrtle, Guy. (Edward Savannah photo/Image 11920 courtesy of City of Victoria Archives)

950 Joan Crescent in 2022.

OFFICES

The Victoria Arena always maintained a separate ticket office. Initially it was because Lester and Frank Patrick were running another business on the side, but later on I’m not sure what the motivation was.

1019 Cook

As I have detailed in a separate post, the Patricks sold tires out of this building, which was brand new when they moved in in 1912. They were local agents for the Essenkay Co. of Chicago, which made some kind of material to fill tires with instead of air.

youHockey tickets were also sold from this location at least through November 1914. A third storey was added to the building in 1944. It’s still standing and is also known as the Bell Apartments, now numbered 1017-23 Cook. The building has undergone a heritage restoration and today the storefronts are occupied by Victoria Electric Bikes and, in the space where the Patricks did business, Wetcleaner, a non-toxic dry cleaner.

1019 Cook in 2022.

113 Pemberton Building, 637-49 Fort

Hockey tickets were first advertised as being offered for sale from this address in the Victoria Daily Times of Dec. 1, 1915. The six-storey building was designed in 1911 by architect George Mesher (who also built and resided at 154 South Turner, the first house the Patrick family occupied in Victoria). It took its name from Pemberton & Son, a real estate and financial firm.

Pemberton building under construction, 1910. (Image M00843 courtesy of City of Victoria Archives)

The unit home to the ticket office also became the real estate office of Strickland & Swain in February 1920. Lester joined as a partner in April and the firm was renamed Strickland, Swain, & Patrick. They moved out a few months later.

The building still stands and is on the Canadian Register of Historic Places, but is now known as the Yarrow building, after industrialist Norman Yarrow, who bought it in 1913.

Victoria Daily Colonist, Aug. 4, 1910

1210 Douglas

Strickland, Swain, & Patrick moved here in June 1920 and stayed for two years. The arena office moved with it. The building, which dated to 1907 or earlier, was torn down around 1966. I haven’t been able to find a picture of it. A new building went up in its place, which was Ingledew’s, Chapters, and is now Shoppers Drug Mart. Its address is 1212 Douglas.

This ad from the Victoria Daily Times, July 7, 1920 shows tickets to games and shows were being sold from 1210 Douglas.

707 Fort

This was the last stop for Strickland, Swain, & Patrick. They appear to have only been here from June to October 1922, after which time the firm folded. The arena office, however, remained until at least February 1924. The building, which had been around since at least 1908, became Safeway in the 1930s. From 1971-78, it was Gleeson Music, and then it was demolished to make way for the current Royal Bank, built in 1979.

707-15 Fort Street in August 1959. (Image M01442 courtesy of City of Victoria Archives)

611 View, Spencer Building

This building was constructed in 1916 and originally known as the Spencer building before becoming the Arcade Block. Plimley and Ritchie’s, a bicycles and sporting goods store, doubled as the arena office from at least 1925 until the arena burned down in 1929. It was here that fans lined up for tickets to the Stanley Cup final.

According to the Victoria Daily Times of March 10, 1925, “The first fans went on guard at the Arena offices at 6:30 this morning … Until 9:30 the seekers of tickets were lined up three deep half way down View Street, the length of Government Street to Fort and half way up the thoroughfare.” When the sale began, Lester Patrick admitted groups of four, limiting them to four tickets each. By early afternoon, they were all gone. (Spoiler alert: Victoria won.)

The building was torn down around 1987 and the Bay Centre (formerly the Victoria Eaton Centre) was built on its site the following year, with an address of 1150 Douglas.

Plimley & Ritchie Bicycles and Sporting Goods, 611 View, Dec. 22, 1922. (Image M08900 courtesy of City of Victoria Archives)

Line-up for Victoria vs. Edmonton hockey tickets, 1926. This would have been for the WHL championship, which Victoria won, earning the right to defend their Stanley Cup title. (Image M06183 courtesy of City of Victoria Archives)

CEMETERY

At least 10 members of the Patrick family are buried in Royal Oak Burial Park, namely Joe Patrick and his wife Grace; their sons Lester, Frank, Guy, and Stan; their daughter Myrtle; Lester’s wife Grace and Frank’s wife Catherine; and Joe’s brother Feather.

Below I’ve embedded a video showing Lester and Frank’s grave markers.

EXTENDED FAMILY

A few other addresses are connected to extended members of the Patrick family:

• In the 1913 civic directory, “Fred R. Patrick” was shown living at 723 Yates, which was then the Portland Rooms and later became the Chandler Hotel. “Fred” might have been Lester and Frank’s brother Ted, or their uncle Feather. The building dates to at least 1909 and is still around. The particular address now corresponds to the Interactivity Board Game Cafe.

723 Yates, between 1959 and 1974. (Image M05579 courtesy of City of Victoria Archives)

• Also in 1913, Isaac and J.C. Patrick were shown living at 537 Niagara. (Curiously, Lester was listed there too, despite having his own house.) Isaac was a cousin to Lester and Frank. He was a bookkeeper for their tire business and also worked for the Victoria Arena Co.

I haven’t figured out who J.C. Patrick was. Isaac’s father was John Patrick, but it doesn’t look like he ever headed west. Nor did Isaac have any siblings with matching initials. Isaac’s own middle name was Curtis, so I wonder if he was listed twice in error. At any rate, 537 Niagara was built by 1906 and demolished on April 15, 1981. An apartment building went up there the following year, which is numbered 539 Niagara.

• Isaac was listed at 1063 Bank in 1915-16. The house was built in 1913 or 1914 for W.J. Barclay, based on a design by Breeseman & Durfee. Mrs. Barclay offered business classes out of the house. It’s still standing.

• When Isaac died in 1921, his address was 432 Durban, a home built in 1912. It’s still standing as well.

Updated on April 1, 2025 to note the refurbished monument to the Victoria Arena.