MacCallum House Inn

Behind the white picket fence and climbing roses stands a Mendocino home built around family, loss, reinvention and more than a century of village history.

Overview

The MacCallum House is one of Mendocino's most recognizable Victorian buildings, with steep gables, decorative trim, a broad porch, garden setting and details that give it the feeling of a grand family home rather than simply an inn.

Today the property operates as the MacCallum House, a boutique hotel and restaurant at 45020 Albion Street. Its official site describes the main property as an 1882-era historic landmark with nineteen rooms among the main house, barn and surrounding cottages.

But the building began as a family home connected directly to one of Mendocino's early pioneer families.

Location

MacCallum House stands at 45020 Albion Street in the heart of Mendocino, across the street from the Kelley House Museum and within easy walking distance of Main Street and the Mendocino Headlands.

The house, lawns, gardens, cottages and former barn create one of the larger historic lodging properties within the village.

History

Kelley House Museum research places the beginning of the MacCallum House story in 1881, when local builder J. D. Johnson constructed a smaller house on the property for Alexander MacCallum and Daisy Kelley MacCallum.

Daisy was the daughter of William Kelley, one of Mendocino's important early settlers. The house is also widely described as an 1882 wedding gift from William Kelley to his daughter, although Kelley House Museum's more detailed building history dates the original Johnson-built portion to 1881.

The original house did not look exactly as it does today. It was smaller and stood farther north on the property.

After Alexander MacCallum died in 1908, Daisy returned to Mendocino from San Francisco. That same year she had the original house moved toward the center of the lot and hired Alexander Carmichael to construct a substantial addition on its north side. A small pagoda-roofed playhouse on the property was also built during this period.

Those changes created much of the larger Victorian appearance associated with MacCallum House today.

The Building Today

The property eventually moved from private family residence into hospitality. Historical accounts place its conversion to a bed-and-breakfast in the 1970s, beginning the chapter that turned the old family home into one of Mendocino's long-running lodging destinations.

Today MacCallum House continues that use as an inn and restaurant while retaining the gardens, lawns and historic residential character that make the property immediately recognizable.

Why It Matters

The MacCallum House ties together pioneer family history, early local building craft, a house that was physically moved and enlarged, and the later transformation of a family residence into one of the village's best-known historic inns.

Community Memories

One community reply said the building brought Jessica Fletcher's house from Murder, She Wrote to mind. The resemblance is understandable — both are large Mendocino Victorians — but Jessica Fletcher's fictional Cabot Cove home was actually represented by the Blair House Inn at 45110 Little Lake Street.

That distinction is another little piece of Mendocino history worth keeping straight.

Timeline

1881 — Builder J. D. Johnson constructs the original, smaller house for Alexander and Daisy Kelley MacCallum.

1882 — The house is widely remembered as a wedding gift from William Kelley to his daughter Daisy.

1908 — Alexander MacCallum dies; Daisy returns from San Francisco, moves the house toward the center of the lot and hires Alexander Carmichael to build a large north addition.

1970s — The property is converted to a bed-and-breakfast.

Today — MacCallum House operates as a historic inn and restaurant at 45020 Albion Street.

Sources & Original Research: Kelley House Museum historical material documenting the original MacCallum House built by J. D. Johnson in 1881 for Alexander and Daisy Kelley MacCallum, its original position on the property, Alexander MacCallum's death, Daisy's return to Mendocino and the 1908 relocation and enlargement of the house by Alexander Carmichael. MacCallum House official website for the present inn, restaurant, property description and 45020 Albion Street address. Kelley House Museum Murder, She Wrote material confirming Blair House Inn on Little Lake Street as the exterior used for Jessica Fletcher's home. Original post text and photograph provided by Gee Bee; community replies provided by Gee Bee, with comments from John Jacobs, Nancy Fereira and Judy Thompson.