07/20/2026
The Cadmus N. Bray house located at 229 E Second Street in Siler City is one of only a handful of properties in city limits that is individually listed on the National Register For Historic Places. The house was built in 1906 by former town mayor and local businessman C.N. Bray. Constructed by local builder John W. Turner the house represents a blend of late Queen Anne Victorian and early Colonial Revival architecture. When constructed the house consisted of a front parlor, foyer, formal dining room, living room, and kitchen on the first floor. The main stair hall was centrally located and connected directly to the dining room, foyer, and living room. Although removed in later years there was once a porch that was located at the rear of the house that connected the main stair hall, kitchen, and rear servants stair hall. Upstairs was a sitting room off the main stair hall, and three bedroom. There was also a nursery on this floor that had direct access to the primary bedroom, servants stair, and main stair hall. On the second floor there was also an attic staircase located directly off the servants stairs that led into a large unfinished attic.
The house has seen several additions and alterations over the years. The most significant of these took place sometime after a damaging attic fire in January of 1931. The fire destroyed most of the original roof although evidence of the fire is still visible in the attic. The lower levels of the house were mostly spared fire damage but were significantly damaged by water. According to newspaper reports neighbors sprang into action and were able to quickly empty the house thus sparing the contents from any major damage. Sometime after this fire seems to be when the rear additions were made which added attached bathrooms as well as extra rooms. It was likely around this time that the metal work was added to the roof, the addition added to the dining room, and the addition of the now removed porte cochere.
As stated previously C.N. Bray built the house in 1906, and by October 1907 he had married Eulalia Jordan. Eulalia's parents were Adolphus Crabtree Jordan and Cattie Matthews Jordan (Jordan Matthews high school was named after them). They had two daughters. Nathalia (Thomas) was born in 1908 and Berta (Mcmasters) was born in 1910. Cadmus Bray lived at the house until his death in 1960 and Eulalia lived there until her death in 1981. After the death of their mother the Bray sisters inherited the house and kept it until 1990 when they sold it to James G. Jones Jr. After several years under Jones' stewardship, a time when the house was painted it's current yellow color it was sold once more in 2017 to it's current owners Whitney and Robert Schmidt.
Interesting facts about the house:
The blocks that underpin the porch are cast concrete blocks made in a J.C. Herring block press, the same type of blocks can be found on the nearby Hotel Hadley.
The style of capitals on the porch columns are called scamozzi.
The house when built originally had shutters on all the windows.
The property originally contained several outbuildings including a rustic log cabin.
The builder of this house later built two “clones” of this house in Siler City for some of the Bray's relatives. Although not as ornate they both follow the same floor plan and share the same exterior layout.
Notes about attached photos (please give credit if sharing images online):
The oldest photo shared comes from the Chatham County Historical Association Collection. It dates from 1906 and it appears the house is undergoing finishing touches.
The general layout plans were created by the author (Jonus Nobles) and show a general configuration of the house (based on it's 2017 appearance).
The winter postcard is in the collection of Preservation Siler City and shows the house in the distance covered in snow.
The last image is of a Sanborn insurance map showing the layout of the land and house in 1930.
