ORVILLE W. MATHENY HOUSE
Firm: Clayton Bond and Mogridge
Address: 1090 Baldwin Crescent SW
Date of final plans: 195x
Status: standing as built
The beginnings of the Matheny House are difficult to trace. The house was built sometime in the 1940s and was, along with the Frank McMahon House, one of two estate properties along the south side of the Calgary Golf and Country Club. I haven't figured out whether these two properties were sold as part of the unbuilt Glenmore Heights development, or whether they predated it. I have no idea who the original owner was of either the Matheny or McMahon house.
In any case, Matheny appears to have bought the house in the early 1950s. The original house was a conventional two-bedroom, hip-roof bungalow. In 1954, Matheny hired Clayton Bond and Mogridge to design a den and dressing room addition.
Then, in 1957, Matheny hired CB&M again to do a major redesign of the house. The redesign called for the roof to be rebuilt as a gable, a new two-storey bedroom wing to be built onto the back side of the house, and the garage extended to three stalls. A gymnasium was to be built on the north side of the property, creating a closed courtyard with a pool. This, however, was not completed.
In the late 1980s, the south half of the lot was sold and developed. At this time, the house's entrance off Elbow was lost, and a new entrance off Baldwin Crescent was built.
NOTE: The final plans for the reconstruction have been lost. However, there remains a set of preliminary drawings.
THE CLIENT
Orville William Matheny (1915–2014) was born in Lawton, Oklahoma on 29 August 1915 to Charles Louis Matheny and Edna Catherine Overton. Matheny grew up around the Texas Panhandle and after high school, he operated a Phillips 66 station in Borger, Texas. When the US entered the war, he enlisted in the US Navy. Matheny received flight training and became a naval aviator with the Navy Evacuation Unit and served in the Pacific Theatre through 1945. He ended the war at the rank of lieutenant.
After the war, he settled in Wichita Falls, Texas and formed a drilling company with partner C. T. Robertson called the Robertson and Matheny Drilling Company. In 1949, he moved the company to Calgary and shortly thereafter bought out Robertson. The company was renamed Cascade Drilling around 1951 and remained a major drilling contractor until it was liquidated in 1971. Later presidents of the company included Cliff Walker and Russel Bullied. In 1958, Matheny became a Canadian citizen.
In 1937, Matheny married Edna Catherine Overton (1918–2017). They had eight children: Larry, Mike, Jo Lynn, Chuck, Bob, Ron, Marianne and Brad. In 1993, the Mathenys left Calgary for Mesa, Arizona. Orville Matheny died on 30 January 2014 at age 98.