Colwood adds Pendray House to a collection of heritage gems

Colwood council has given the century-old historic Pendray House legal heritage protection as development builds up around it.

After the Colwood Special Heritage Commission passed unanimous support for its second reading, Colwood council unanimously moved, on Nov 25 to approve Bylaw 2024 that will protect Pendray House as a heritage property. Owned by Bill Beadle of Heather Bell Lands Corp, Pendray House joins other historic gems in the area that hold the history of the region in their architectural bones.

The 8,400-square-foot (780m2) Pendray House sits on 0.47 acres (0.2 hectares) near the Royal Roads grounds and faces the Esquimalt Lagoon. It once served as the home of the Pacific Centre for Human Development. In 2008, the Coast Collective arts group took up residence there. 

Touted as a “multi-use resort village on Lagoon beach,” plans for a six-phase condo development on the acreage around Pendray House called the Pacific Landing Project were unveiled in 2015. The first phase of the project consists of 3 separate condo buildings and was completed in August 2017. Phase II sold out in 2019.

The house is currently being used as an amenity space for strata residents.

In June 2019, Colwood Council directed staff to speak with owners about plans to re-purpose Pendray as a restaurant while retaining its heritage-defining architectural elements. Those plans did not materialize, and the property entered receivership. In September 2024, the property and nearby land was subject to a court-ordered sale for $8 million dollars.

The house and surrounding near half acre land parcel was assessed in 2021 to have a property value of $4 million.

A CBRE report on the court-ordered sale suggests as uses for Pendray House: arts & cultural facilities, a brewhouse, gift shops, a restaurant, or an accessory building.

At a special in-camera meeting in June 2019, council resolved to direct staff to engage with the owners of Pendray House prior to introduction of draft heritage preservation bylaws and before initiation of temporary protection under section 15(607)(2) of the Local Government Act.

The historical significance of the place

Pendray’s original owners, Herbert and Charlotte Pendray were prominent ‘society’ figures in the first decades of the twentieth century. Charlotte was one of the organizers of early fundraising by Victoria's famous charity dog Muggins. Herbert spent much of his youth living in the Gatsby Mansion (now Pendray Inn and Tea House) in James Bay. They bought the future Pendray House property in the 1920s and built on it the house they would call Havenwood between 1925 and 1927, making it nearly 100 years old. 

Havenwood was the name given to the land parcel when it was purchased from the Crown in 1881. Colwood’s Havenwood Park, a 16.5-hectare (40-acre) parcel of land purchased by the province in the 1970s for a housing land bank, is also a namesake of that era.

Heritage designation bylaws are a means for local governments to protect key heritage features. To receive a heritage designation in Colwood, a building must do at least one of the following: 

• represent an important theme or era in local development

• represent a major change or turning point in community history 

• be associated with a person or event of regional to international importance 

• be a unique or excellent example of its architectural style/type in the area

Some of the qualifying features of Pendray House include its:

• river rock foundation

• exterior staircase

• glazed porch

• historic interior finishes, notably the tiled fireplace mantel in the living room, the entrance panelling, staircase and railings, and the inlaid wood and terra cotta tile flooring

Outside, the property is home to purple beech, a Norway maple, white poplar, a Douglas fir and a red cedar tree.

Several other heritage landmarks in the area

Other heritage properties that are already protected by local bylaws, federally or are in the process for protection in the region include former Royal Roads Military College, Fort Rodd Hill & the Fisgard Lighthouse, and the Colwood Dairy and Cheese House at 468 Goldstream Ave. 

Other publicly and privately owned structures that have been classified as meeting A-class heritage criteria by the Colwood Heritage Commission include 155 Goldfinch Rd, Colwood Community Hall at 2139 Sooke Rd, and “Wishart House” at 3354 Wishart Rd, with its unique river stone external construction and internal fireplace.

Pendray House is a fulcrum between Colwood settler establishment and the more modern development

The historic settlement of the Colwood region began in 1847 when a road was constructed from the Gorge to Millstream and its sawmill that Roderick Finlayson built at the upper end of Esquimalt Harbour. That track was extended, over time, to provide access to the Esquimalt Farm owned by Edward E. Langford—a distant relative of Vancouver Island governor Richard Blanshard (1849 to 1851)—and to provide supplies to a burgeoning forestry industry on the west shore.

Sooke/Metchosin road was opened in 1852 by Governor Douglas to connect farms along the west shore to Fort Victoria. Esquimalt Farm sat on 242 hectare (600 acres) between Esquimalt Harbour and Langford Lake. Langford called the farmhouse he built there “Colwood” after his home and farm of similar size in Sussex, England.

What will happen with the house going forward? 

Having been maintained for community use arts and culture space during the surrounding parcel’s development, Pendray House remains in relatively good condition, according to a report by community development staff. The bylaw’s legal heritage protection is not expected to impact the overall economic viability of the Pacific Landing project and represents “an insurance policy for the community, irrespective of who owns the property.”

At the Nov 14 in camera meeting, Coun. David Grove asked, “If the present ownership group does not have the resources – at what point does the city step in to maintain the structure inside and out?” 

Ian Bourhill, director of the community planning told the commission that the law requires maintenance of specific elements of the house mentioned in the bylaw. Commission member Don Lovell asked “How would the city ensure maintenance is being done by the owner?”

Bourhill assured the commission that because the city only has three designated heritage properties, it would be relatively straightforward to keep an eye on the site. 

“Members of the city team are attending the city site quite often as it develops,” he said.

To find other heritage properties in Colwood check out the full Heritage Inventory here.