A good investment: women and property ownership in a mid-twentieth century Canadian suburb, Oak Bay, British Columbia, 1940-1960
Date
2010-04-30T17:49:46Z
Authors
Patterson, Brandy J.
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Abstract
This thesis situates women as stakeholders in Canada’s post-war suburban development
in their roles as designers, builders, owners and investors. By 1949, 60 percent of
properties in the Municipality of Oak Bay, a suburb of Victoria, British Columbia, were
held in female ownership. Most women owned houses jointly with their husbands. Others owned houses, vacant lots, commercial buildings and investment properties solely
in their name. To understand the role that women played in shaping the built landscape
of this post-war Canadian suburb between 1940 and 1960, information for each female
owned property, along with a 20 percent sample, was collected from the municipality’s
1949 property assessment roll. Results were matched with a Geographic Information
System (GIS) to illustrate the spatial characteristics of these ownership patterns and building permit records were examined. In-depth interviews were conducted with eleven women who spoke about their own or a relative’s experiences as property owners.
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Keywords
Canada, Suburban development, Post-war, Women, Gender, Property ownership, Municipal assessment records, Victoria, B.C., Building permits