Victoria Survey: A community born after war

Napoleon Larin, veteran from WW1 and his grandson Michael son of William at Victoria Survey in Paris. It was taken the day the Survey officially opened.

Neil Edwards

Paris Independent Contributor

People who are new to Paris (and maybe some longtime residents as well) might not know that over time, special names have been given to various neighborhoods in Paris, names like the Junction, Coney Island, the Flats, Quality Hill (or Snob Hill), and others. But the neighborhood readers might not know is called the Wartimes, maybe better known by its more formal name, the Victoria Survey.

You might be forgiven for not knowing it because it is a small but distinct neighborhood in the southwest end of town, off Dundas Street between the Queensview Retirement Community and the Paris Cemetery. If you turn down Barker Street and make a quick left turn, you are in the Victoria Survey. It is a small neighborhood, only six streets with about 70 houses, but it is steeped in history, particularly the history of the Second World War and its aftermath.

This neighborhood came to be known as wartime housing because the houses there were built during and immediately after the Second World War. In a step meant to meet the growing demand for affordable housing for both defence-related industry workers and returning veterans, the Federal Government jumped into the world of residential development for the first time in the 1940s, and Victory Homes were born.

Constructed of prefabricated components (walls and roofs), Victory homes mimicked the mass production of the war effort. In all, over 30,000 homes were built across Canada under the direction of the Wartime Housing Corporation, later to become Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) in 1947. Most homes were one storey or one-and-a-half storey, with steep pitched roofs and small sash windows and metal chimney stacks. There were no basements. Although some homes had brick exteriors, the majority had clapboard wooden siding. Both centre and side-hall plans were available. The homes typically had an eat-in kitchen, living room, one bathroom and two bedrooms, with room to expand upstairs into the attic if required. Victory Homes were designed to be comfortable and large enough for a single family. Their unique and recognizable designs have become “classics” in the Canadian urban landscape.

Initially designed as temporary rental housing for munitions workers, the mandate expanded after 1944 to include returning veterans and their families. Although built as temporary rentals, the administration of these homes was taken over by the CMHC in 1947. Eventually, many of these units were sold to the tenants, mainly returning veterans. Applications for tenancy and subsequent purchase by veterans were prioritized based on factors such as length of service, overseas time, disability, and number of dependents. The houses were priced affordably for young families with moderate incomes. Prices generally ranged from $5,000 to $7,000. ($5,000 in 1946 would be worth about $85,000 today.) Occupants could sometimes purchase their home with a minimal down payment of just $500. CMHC further facilitated home ownership by introducing mortgage guarantees for veterans, allowing for 25-year mortgages with monthly payments comparable to rent. The purchaser was generally expected to live in the home as their primary residence. Contrary to popular thought, veterans did not have to be married or have children to buy a wartime home, at least not in the Victoria Survey in Paris, but having a family was a significant factor in the allocation process, so there were many children living in the Wartimes during the 50s and 60s. 

What was it like to live in the Wartimes? Well, talking to men who had grown up in the neighbourhood, it was a great place. There were always other kids to play with. There was a baseball diamond at the end of Victoria Street which was constantly in use, but to play hockey or competitive baseball, boys needed to walk to the arena or to ball fields for competitive sports. And competition with other wards was fierce. On the other hand, unlike their classmates from the south end, they did not have to make the climb to Queen’s Ward School, which was located where the retirement home is today. 

And Cliff Atfield said that “everybody was a parent” in the Wartimes. If a boy was in a friend’s house at mealtime, he was invited to stay for lunch or dinner. There was a sense of community with the adults too. The houses in the Wartimes had no basements, so it was common for men to get together to dig out basements for one another themselves. Some of the men came home from the war with what we would know as PTSD. And some were picked on for that reason, but not after the combat veterans from the neighbourhood made clear that would not be tolerated.

Many of the returning veterans who purchased homes in the Victoria Survey lived in Paris before the war, but many others, lured by the idea of home ownership in the prettiest town in Canada, or more likely by a job at Penmans or Massey-Harris, came from other towns and cities, planted roots in Paris, and blended smoothly into the life of the community. Unfortunately, we do not know who all these men were, or where they came from, or where they served. And here is where you can help.

Homes of Heroes has taken on the task to identify and honor all of the men and women of Paris who served in the military to defend our country. With the invaluable help of the researchers at the Paris museum, we have tracked down many of those veterans, including several in the Victoria Survey. But Homes of Heroes wants to find them all, because all of these veterans deserve our recognition and our thanks. There are still people living in Paris-- the children and grandchildren and friends of these veterans, who know their stories. Homes of Heroes wants to hear those stories, and save those stories, and each year recognize the veterans behind those stories, so that they are never forgotten.

Can you help? Did you live or are you living in Victoria Survey? Do you know the names of those veterans or their family members? If so, please contact us….  

Many of the houses in the Victoria Survey have been upgraded and modernized over time, but the beating heart of the neighborhood still comes from those original veterans. Paris needs to keep that heart beating. We need to tell their stories.