Walter V. Greer House
808 West Commercial Street

In 1939, after much planning and drawing, the Greers began building their dream home on Lot 2, Block 14, the corner of Commercial and West Streets. The Greer house is unique because of the rounded entrance tower and conical roof. As you might imagine, there is a story behind this. It was quoted in an article in the May 18, 1978, edition of the Victoria Advocate:
 

One of Mrs. Greer’s most frequently told stories is about a grandfather clock which has been in her family since 1635. “The minutes are marked with a ship’s anchor,” she describes the heirloom. “It was always passed down to the oldest son. My uncle got the clock and he never had any children. Since my father had no living sons and I was the oldest daughter, I always assumed that I would get the clock. When she and her husband built their home in Victoria, Mrs. Greer had a tower built on the front of the house for the clock. She stops her story there, waiting to be asked if she got the clock. “Of course I didn’t!” she says with spunk. “It serves me right for wishing it. My uncle gave it to a cousin. It’s back in Rhode Island now.”
 

And so the house with “the witch’s hat” came to be built in old Victoria. Completed in 1940, this house became home to the Greer family for the next forty years.

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You can learn more about this home and the families that have lived here in Volume I of Historic Homes of Victoria, available here online through our SHOP or at the Victoria Preservation, Inc. office.