Old Canvey Property

Stanley and Gordon Villa, Gafzelle Drive

Another old Canvey property in Gafzelle Drive taken by John Pharro in 2003 and in the gallery at the bottom as it is on Google today.

Gafzelle Drive

The same property in its early days. the brick-built ‘Stanley Villa’ in Gafzelle Drive, Leigh Beck, which has survived to this day. (One half was ‘Stanley Villa’, the other half was ‘Gordon Villa’.) Possibly built by the Ogg Family or rented/owned by them and David Ogg’s wife Ada Mabel Jessie Ogg still lived in Stanley Villa in 1929. In 1918 Lizzie Barbara Grossmith was in residence at Gordon Villa, Leigh Beck,

Comments about this page

  • This property is on the edge of the extended part of Kismet Park. Not sure if this was the guest house that used to be there, or if there was another similar property next to it.

    By Joan Liddiard (10/08/2014)
  • Sorry Joan, you’re one road adrift, the site you’re talking about is on the corner of Gainsborough Ave and Crescent Rd. This is Stanley Villa on the corner of Gafzelle Dve and Crescent. It is probably one of the oldest in this great series of older Canvey properties by John Pharro. Built before 1914 it belonged to the Ogg family(David Ogg, the plumber) whose history is the subject of one of the Archive’s earliest pages by Robert Hallman in May 2008. An early photo of the house is in the centre of the photo gallery.

    By Graham Stevens (18/08/2014)
  • According to the 1929 Electoral Roll ‘Gordon Villa’ was down Marine Approach, not this road. Alternativey there was a Gordonville down Roggel Road. The 1911 Census has two properties [sic] (1. Stanly Villas, 2. Stanly Villas) which were uninhabited at the time of the Census but does not specify which road but is located in the schedule in the leigh beck area and near another property (Cleve Cottage) also thought to be in Gafselle Drive.

    By Martin Lepley (02/07/2015)
  • The information regarding the property came from the Ogg family Martin. It may well have been called Stanly Villa 1&2 but they remember it as above. It is definitely in Gafzelle

    By Janet Penn (02/07/2015)
  • Hi Martin, The confusion on the Electoral Role has arisen because it’s Marine Ave( not Marine Approach) which runs parallel to Gafzelle and most likely in 1929 the land of Stanley Villa would have had a frontage on Marine Ave where it crosses Crescent Rd. Have a look at the map.

    By Graham Stevens (02/07/2015)
  • Two more thoughts; 1. Childhood memory that the garden of Stanley Villa did stretch to the corner of Crescent/ Marine Ave in the 50s, 2, Cleve Lodge, probably a late 30s or early post-war brick built rebuild of Cleve Cottage, even in the 50s a very substantial property, is still extant in the north section of Gafzelle Dve app 50 yds from the junction with Crescent Rd.

    By Graham Stevens (02/07/2015)
  • I have added above a map from the period to show the location of the property. As can be seen it is unlikely there would have been an entrance from Marine Avenue as there was no boundary there.

    Another thought could be that there was no one living in Gordon Villa at the time of the Roll or it had already or was going to be made into the one property. Therefore I would suggest there was a Gordon Villa in Marine Approach as stated in the register. Perhaps one day we will be able to prove that.

    By Janet Penn (02/07/2015)

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