25 Braeside Drive

Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). a Crown Corporation established by the Canadian Government in 1946, to assist returning war veterans find suitable housing, provide mortgage liquidity and assist affordable housing development.

Every year, CMHC published a book of house plans designed by Canadian architects. I devoured these publications and, I think they strongly influenced my drafting style. In 1957, my father and mother selected Design 756 by K.R.D. Pratt from St. Paul, Manitoba. The house plan is a three bedroom split level that was very suitable for a narrow city lot on Braeside Drive in Moncton, New Brunswick.I lived in this house for five years before setting off to university in 1963.

The lowest level is the basement. I set up a drafting table with a tee square, tucked under the stairs next to the furnace. The next level has the Family Room with a fireplace, Laundry Room and Powder Room. The Family Room became the center of the house. It is where we put the Christmas tree and very Saturday evening, we watched “Hockey Night in Canada”. In those days there were only six teams in the NHL. The Montreal Canadiens were my team, my brother supported the Toronto Maple Leafs and my father, The Detroit Red Wings. This room on cold winter nights was filled with lots of cheering, laughter and shoulder punching.

The main level has the Foyer (which no one used), a “L” shaped Living and Dining area with a southern orientated “picture window”, that overlooked the Halls Creek Marsh and a galley style kitchen with the back door. The upper level has three bedrooms and a bathroom used by seven people.

My brother, Edward, and I slept in the bedroom with the window on the left. My parents’, Harold and Helen, bedroom is the window on the right. My sisters, Mary Lynn (Lynnie), Betty and Marian, slept in the bedroom on the other side of the hallway. The room was just large enough to fit three beds, wall to wall.

We shared Braeside Drive and it’s adjoining streets with the Leightens, Pecks, McManuses, Colpaughs, Arsenaults and Sharps