McHenry Mansion

The McHenry Mansion is a Victorian-Italianate historic house museum situated in the historic downtown of Modesto, California. It was originally built in 1883 as a residence for Robert McHenry, a prominent local resident.[2]

McHenry Mansion
The McHenry Mansion as it appeared in June 2010.
Location906 15th St.
Modesto, California, U.S.
Built1883
Built forRobert McHenry
Restored1977–1983
(first restoration)
2011–2013
(second restoration)
Restored byCity of Modesto
ArchitectJeremiah Robinson
Architectural style(s)Victorian and Italianate
Designated1978[1]
Reference no.78000805

History

In 1880, Robert McHenry purchased five lots on the corner of 15th and I street in Modesto, California for what would become the McHenry Mansion. McHenry hired Jeremiah Robinson, a Stockton contractor, to design and construct the mansion. Construction of the McHenry Mansion began in 1882 and was completed in 1883. The mansion was constructed in the High Victorian Italianate style that was popular at the time. After construction, Robert McHenry lived in the mansion with his wife, Matilda until his death in 1890. With the death of Matilda in 1896, their son, Oramil McHenry, moved into the mansion with his wife Louise and their three children. After their divorce in 1901, Oramil married a woman named Myrtie Conneau in 1902. Conneau came into ownership of the McHenry mansion following Oramil's death in 1906 due to stomach cancer. The McHenry Mansion changed ownership again when Myrtie remarried William Langdon in 1908.

Subsequently, the mansion became the Elmwood Sanitarium in 1919, then the Langdon apartments in 1923. The McHenry Mansion continued to be used as an apartment building until 1976, when it came on the market. At the time, Modesto was rapidly losing much of its historical architecture, so Aileen and Julio Gallo purchased the mansion through the Julio R. Gallo Foundation to preserve it. The McHenry Mansion was restored and opened to the public in 1983 and has since been open as a historical landmark with available tours. In 2011 the front of the McHenry Mansion was damaged in a major fire and has since been restored to its original state.[3]

References
  1. "California - Stanislaus County". National Register of Historic Places. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
  2. "History of McHenry Mansion". McHenry Mansion: Modesto's Treasure. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
  3. http://www.mchenrymansion.org/history.html

Bibliography

Stanley Bare, Colleen (1985). The McHenry Mansion: Modesto's Heritage. McHenry Mansion Foundation Press. ISBN 9780961592615.

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