The Journal · The Brantford Club
The House Older Than the City: 98 George Street, Brantford
The house at 98 George Street, Brantford, home of The Brantford Club since 1898, is an Italianate residence built around 1855. That makes the house older than the City of Brantford itself, which was not incorporated as a city until 1877. It stands at the corner of George and Nelson Streets, across from the Court House.
Most buildings live inside their city’s story; a few start earlier. When this house went up, around 1855, Brantford was a town, and the house had stood for some twenty years before the City of Brantford existed on paper. This entry is the house’s own biography, told from the City’s heritage record and the Club’s centennial history, from a doctor’s residence to the club that has kept it since 1898.
Who lived at 98 George Street before the Club?
Before the Club, 98 George Street was the residence of Dr. John Y. Bown, in the City of Brantford’s own words “a prominent physician in Brantford and Member of Parliament immediately before and after Confederation.” His Brant North seat was won in 1867 by a margin the record keeps to the vote: 672 to 670. The house received company to match: the Club’s centennial history records that “the first Sir John A. Macdonald had been a guest there when it was occupied by Dr. Bown,” years before the Club existed. The first Prime Minister knew this address as a private home.
From the Bown family to the Club, 1898
Dr. Bown died in 1890, and the centennial history closes the family chapter in one line: “his widow, Margaret Macklem Bown, survived him only ten years.” In 1898 the newly incorporated Brantford Club bought the property for $4,500.00, and the residence became the Club House. The purchase is recorded to the cent because that is how the Club keeps things; the house has been on the Club’s books, and the Club in the house, ever since.
The same address, since 1898
The Italianate house is not preserved the way a museum preserves; it is kept the way a working house is kept, renovated on the record in the 1950s, 1977, and 1997, and used daily. A second Prime Minister eventually followed the first: the centennial history notes that Joe Clark lunched at the Club, “the second Canadian Prime Minister to visit the premises.” The rooms themselves, and what the renovations found in the walls, have their own entry.
The house had stood for some twenty years before the City it stands in existed on paper.
Questions the record answers
When was the house at 98 George Street built?
Around 1855, per the City of Brantford’s heritage record: an Italianate residence that predates the City’s own 1877 incorporation by some twenty years.
Did Sir John A. Macdonald visit 98 George Street?
As a guest of Dr. Bown, when the house was a private residence and before the Club existed. The Club’s centennial history records the visit in exactly that framing, and notes Joe Clark as the second Canadian Prime Minister to visit the premises.
Who was Dr. John Y. Bown?
In the City of Brantford’s words, “a prominent physician in Brantford and Member of Parliament immediately before and after Confederation.” He won Brant North in 1867 by 672 votes to 670, and 98 George Street was his residence. He died in 1890.
Sources: the City of Brantford’s heritage record for the house, its date, and Dr. Bown; PARLINFO for the Brant North result; and the Club’s centennial history for the Macdonald and Clark visits, the widow, and the purchase.
What the house has held since the Club’s door first opened is in the history of The Brantford Club.
