Peter O'Reilly was a prominent settler and official in the Colony of British Columbia, now a province of Canada who held a variety of positions, most notably as the head of a commission struck to revise and allocate Indian Reserves throughout the province.
Biography
O'Reilly was criticized in his time and by latter-day academics for largely shirking his duties and avoiding meetings with First Nations leaders, but the basis of the Indian Reserve system as it remains in British Columbia today is the outcome of his assignment, known informally as the O'Reilly Commission. O'Reilly was also the second Gold Commissioner of the Rock Creek Mining District, replacing W.G. Cox at the time of the Governor's visit during the Rock Creek War.
Point Ellice House
O'Reilly's residence in Victoria, Point Ellice House, is preserved today as a house museum and gardens. Positioned overlooking Selkirk Water and the Gorge Waterway, Point Ellice House was constructed between 1861 and 1862 for Catherine and Charles Wentworth Wallace. Architects John Wright & George Sanders chose an Italianate Villa-style design that was popular during the nineteenth century. The Canadian Register of Historic Places lists the character-defining elements of the house as:
The house’s location next to the Gorge Waterway, with access to the place from both land and water
The design of the house as a single storey rambling Victorian Italianate villa with all of its details, such as the shallow-pitched gabled roofs, wide overhanging bracketed eaves, verandahs and porches, medieval style chimneys, tall spacious windows and classical detailing
The asymmetrical floor plan and spatial configuration of the interior, with its narrow halls and enclosed rooms, and the physical integrity of its finishes, such as floors, wall coverings, ceilings, doors, moldings and architectural hardware
All of the mature historic garden and landscaping features, which include the croquet/tennis lawns, pathways, rose bushes, flower beds, mature trees and shrubs, and the sequoia tree planted by Peter O’Reilly
The unobstructed views and relationship between house and garden
The existing form and materials of the carriage shed.
