"Willis Ray, the builder and owner of this 19th century pioneer residence, had arrived in Corning during the 80's [sic] to publish the Corning Advocate, one of the several Corning papers that thrived for a while but finally succumbed to competition. The home was located on West Third Street between the First Baptist Church and the Masonic Hall that held down the South corner of the block. The house reveals the gingerbread that characterized the Victorian era. The house was remodeled around 1910, the two gable front replaced by a peak roof and the gingerbread replaced by white columns. The home burned in the 1920 decade after conversion to an apartment house."