Heritage Register
Gonzales

954 Maddison Street

Built 1913
Heritage-Designated 2012

For: John and Grace Bray

ARCHITECTURE:

This modest side-gabled 1½-storey house is largely as built in 1913. It has a square footprint, and a dramatic roof, punctuated with centred dormers front and back (the rear one, at least, may have been an open sleeping porch). The rafter-tails are exposed. One chimney pierces the front dormer; another is on the outside of the left wall, and is gently shouldered. Both are lightly corbelled.

The foundation and gables are shingled; the main floor and dormers are clad in narrow double-drop siding. A shed-roofed extension on the right front forms a porch, supported with plain square columns. The front-facing stairs are centred on the entry (though a 1913 plumbing plan shows side-facing steps). The front door assembly includes an early door and half-length side windows. At the rear, there’s a wide, shallow box bay, possibly for the original kitchen.

The entry foyer is a charming space with much original, unpainted woodwork, including bevelled wood panelling and a plate-rail all round, supported with dentil-like brackets. A wide arch, with a flattened curve, leads to a small central hall, accessing the stairs and the kitchen (through another, semi-circular arch). The space is heated with an original, decorative cast-iron radiator.

ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS:

954 Maddison was owned by the pioneer Bray family for over 75 years. In 1907 John Clifton (1853-1933) and Grace (Tittensor 1864-1956) Bray purchased six adjoining lots between Maddison and Wilmer Streets. A 1907 water permit suggests that they may have lived in a cabin at 958 Maddison before building a four-room house on that lot in 1910. In 1913 they moved into 954 Maddison which was built at a cost of $2,500. Members of the Bray family moved between these two houses several times.

John was born in Cambourne, Cornwall, England and came to Victoria in 1883. Grace was from London, England, arriving in 1889. They were married in Victoria in 1894. John established his own cigar & tobacco business and in later years worked as a commercial agent for wholesale tobacconist D.T. Irvine. John and Grace had four children; Harold, Ethel, Marjorie and Doris. All were born in Victoria and had lifelong ties to Maddison Street.

In 1928 John, Grace and grown daughters Marjorie, Ethel and Doris moved back into their earlier house next door. 954 Maddison was rented to Mrs. Aline Dorothy (Day, 1889-1938) Cockburn who was recently divorced from Major Lestock Wilson Swinton Cockburn. She worked for the firm of Mackie & Cockburn until her departure for England in 1936. After John Bray’s death in 1933, his widow Grace returned to 954 Maddison along with daughters Doris and Ethel.

Son Harold Clifton (1898-1964) served in both World Wars. In 1927 he married Kathleen Grant Humber and they lived in the next block at 954 Wilmer. They had two children Ronald and Maureen. Between wars, Harold was chief salesman at Robin Hood Flour Mills. In 1934 they moved into 958 Maddison. Major Harold Bray was general staff officer in charge of security intelligence at Pacific Command Headquarters throughout the Second Wold War and was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1945.

Ethel Mary (1899-1975), was employed as housekeeper for the family of dentist C.J. Coultas. By 1936 she was living with them on King George Terrace. Ethel married George William Hodgson and moved to Courtenay. Marjorie Alice (1904-1984) married Arthur Sterling Balcom (1905-1964) in 1931. They were divorced by 1947 when Marjorie and their two children, Graeme and Marilyn, moved back to 954 Maddison to live with Doris and Grace. Marjorie worked for BAPCO Paint as a typist and later for Humber Bros Furniture as a bookkeeper.

Doris (1909-1977) was a dressmaker with her own business in the Sayward Building.

Grace died in 1956 and Doris in 1977. A small suite was added to the house to provide additional income for Marjorie. A year after Marjorie’s death in 1984, the current owners purchased the house.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & IMAGES:

• Gonzales History

• Gonzales Heritage Register


• This Old House, Victoria's Heritage Neighbourhoods,
Volume Four: Fairfield, Gonzales & Jubilee