VALENTINE R. JEFFERIES HOUSE
Firm: Clayton Bond and Mogridge
Address: 44 Medford Place SW
Date of final plans: August 1957
Status: standing as built
Val Jefferies's house is built on a tight wedge lot in Mayfair. The house is a flat-roofed bungalow whose main floor is located 1'6'' above the grade of the garage. Glulam beams protrude from the front of the house over a brick-walled patio.
The house is clad in concrete blocks that were provided by Consolidated Concrete Inc., the Jefferies family business. The interior walls are also clad of concrete blocks arranged in a multitude of patterns.
Today the house looks mostly original although it's largely hidden from the street by trees.
THE CLIENT
Valentine Robert "Val" Jefferies (1927–2002) was born in Calgary on 14 February 1927 to James Edward "Ed" Jefferies (1888–1955) and Helen Collins Craik (1886–1978). Ed Jefferies was born in Wrexham, Wales and after living for a time in Scotland came to Calgary in 1908. Jefferies established a contracting business, J. E. Jefferies Ltd., and when his father came to Calgary and joined the business it became Jefferies and Sons Ltd. In 1927 Ed purchased the first gas dump truck in Calgary. The business expanded into concrete block production, and was renamed Jefferies Concrete Products. In 1949 he donated the site of his plant to the Alberta Fish and Game Association. This site became the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, and in 1993 a pond was name the Jefferies Pond to commemorate him.
Ed and Helen Jefferies had five boys: Edward, Raymond, Allan, Ross, and Valentine. Val's brother Ross's house was only a couple blocks away and is featured on this site (see here). Val was the president of Armour Plastic Company.
On 28 October 1950 Jefferies married Patricia Anne Lewis (1930–2016) at Knox United. They had four children: Robert, Darryl, Judy, and Daniel. Jefferies died on 9 March 2002 at age 75.