It takes a village to celebrate a milestone: locals say goodbye to beloved stone garage

A unique structure on Hollywood Crescent was celebrated by historians and politicians earlier this month

Photo: Sidney Coles / Capital Daily

A beloved hand-hewn stone structure on Hollywood Crescent, soon to be demolished by developers, was celebrated in style earlier this month. An eclectic representation of Victoria’s historically minded “who’s who” — former and current city council members, historians, a TV personality, artists and musicians — were on hand to commemorate the significance of the cottage built by former homeowners Andy and Margarete GiIstein.

Three generations of Gjelstens (Gilstein is the anglicized version of the family name) were there. Eleanor and Freida, Andy and Margarete’s daughters, told of their parents’ loving work on the unique construction of the cottage and the colorful gardens that surround it. The garden stretches up to the roof of the stone house where, in early spring, daffodils bloom.

Event organizer Rosemary Sleigh told the Capital Daily that “if you look at pictures of those gardens and the way they’re landscaped with red and yellow flowers, it almost looks like a flag design.” There was a miniature farm on the grounds that she understands is a recreation of Andy Gilstein’s family farm in Norway. Sleigh secured one of the city’s My Great Neighborhood grants to host the event.

Former television personality Jack Atkins, folk musician Bart Hone, Hal (Harold) Kalman, a leading Victoria architectural historian, were all in attendance, as were former city councillor and past president of the Hallmark Heritage Society Pam Madoff and current councillor Marg Gardiner. Both Kalman, who lives directly across the street from the property, and Madoff spoke to the crowd sitting in lawn chairs in the shade of the stone house about the importance of historic preservation in the city.

“I had seen the stone garage many times when I was knocking on doors during election times and visiting people in the area,” Gardiner said. “At last week’s meeting, the descendants of the creator of the stone garage were there with a photo collage that went back in time. There were even snapshots of the final ‘stoning’ of the spike above the door.”

“I found the keynote from the historian and the two sisters very moving, especially towards the end,” said neighbor Wilford Castle. “Like many people, I knew about the amazing garden here, but I didn’t realize how much history there was in this place and how unique it is because of the people who put in the effort to create it all.”

Organizer Sleigh, a designer and researcher, said there is some confusion about who built the house and when.

“What’s in the city directory doesn’t match what’s been said,” she said. “Some records say the house was built in 1922, but there’s no address on that piece of land until 1925, and the house wasn’t built until 1926.”

She knows there is a popular myth about the house’s origins, that it was built by a sea captain named John Calvin Foote, but her own research confirms it was Peter Lyall. She wants to talk to McInnis about how the other story got started.

Amit and Karishma Sethi, the current owners of the property, have applied for a zoning change for a two-block, multi-unit development that will occupy the majority of the site.

“There are many, many more sensitive solutions that could have been devised for this property, but the developer is not interested in those,” Sleigh said.