Slowly stripped of much of its Queen Anne ornament over time, the MacKenzie House is still a neighborhood landmark. The house was built in 1889 by William K. Chapman for $5000. A that time a 16′ x 28′ barn was also built at the southeast corner of the property. Cost of the barn was $350. The house was completed on December 1, 1889. The 1892 Atlas of Minneapolis shows that the house was among the first built along this section of Bryant Avenue. At that time there were scattered pockets of homes that had been built between Bryant and Lyndale Avenue 2 blocks to the east. West of Bryant there existed only a handful of homes. The nearby Lyndale Hotel on the shore of Lake Calhoun had been destroyed by fire in April of 1885.

Historic photo of the MacKenzie house illustrates what has changed.

The MacKenzies, namesakes of the house, first enter the story of the house on July 22, 1901 when Prudence Maria MacKenzie purchased the house with a warranty deed from Ms. Loesch. and lived in the house with her parents and siblings. Their name was alternately spelled MacKenzie and McKenzie in official documents. The home remained in the family for 85 years, passing from sister to sister to sister and finally to niece Dorothy Jackson who owned the home until 1986.

Although the home is essentially intact, a great many changes appear to have taken place during the years the home was owned by the MacKenzies and Dorothy Jackson. Most of these changes had the effect of removing historic character from the home.

The most obvious changes were the removal of the porte cochere, upper porch roof and railing. The original barn was also moved off the property to a location elsewhere in the city. It is possible to ascertain some of the changes to the house through the physical clues that have been left behind, as well as the one historic photo that has been located. This photo appears to date from sometime between 1901 when the Mackenzies took possession, and 1912, when the neighboring house to the south first shows up on the Sanborn Fire Map. Given this range, and the apparent age of the woman in the photo, it is probably a photo of mother Eliza Ann in front of the house. Since she is standing alone and father George died in 1909, the photo may likely date from between 1909 and 1912.

The upper porch originally featured two doors. One of these was under the gable roof. The other was on the west side of the north bay. Both of these have been converted to windows. The front entrance door was narrowed from a pair of doors to a single door. The porch skirting has lost the three horizontal bands that appear in the photo. Quite possibly the original design was actually a sawn wood design rather then the current slat construction.

The wood shingle roof is gone as are the original gutters, sawn wood roof cresting, and finials. The cap on the side chimney was also altered and the rear chimney was removed above the roof. The original second floor front window or storm has been changed from a vertical muntin to a double hung window with a horizontal muntin on the storm window.

It appears there was a side porch off the original dining room along 35th Street and there was a door just east of the bay that has been converted to a window. Around the corner on the east side of the house, the existing band of three short windows are obviously not original and probably replaced a single, taller window. There is physical evidence of another former door (since replaced with a window) on the second floor of this same facade at the south corner. This suggests that there would have been another porch or an exterior stairway at this location.

Currently there exists a continuous first floor window sill that runs from the east end of the north bay all of the way to the southwest corner of the house, as well as from the northeast corner to the rear door. Physical evidence has been uncovered that indicates that this sill originally was continuous around the entire first floor on all sides of the house.

In spite of these changes, some of the original ornamental character still exists in the form of the flared transition between second and first floor siding, frieze with dentil moldings, porch columns and fretwork, and various other trim. Still, the historic photo of the house makes it clear not only how much original ornament is missing, but also how small changes in the overall form diminished the home’s architectural character.

The current exterior restoration work is one phase of ongoing work to make the house convenient for contemporary life while enhancing its unique architectural character. The focus of the current work is to return the exterior closer to its original appearance. The largest component of this work will be the reconstruction of the upstairs front porch, including a gable roof that partially covered the area directly above the front door. Railings will also be recreated on the lower porch and most of the broken porch brackets will be repaired or replaced. Another prominent aspect of the work will be the reconstruction of the decorative bargeboards on the two eastern gables as well as the northern gable. Other work will include a new decorative porch roof bracket to replace the 4×4 currently supporting this roof, stone refacing of the cellar access, new attic storm windows, and various trim repair and replacement.

January 2, 2012 Update:  You can read about current work on the house in A Budget Kitchen Experiment.