MacCallum House


The MacCallum house was built on Albion and Ukiah street in 1882. It was given to Daisy Kelly MacCallum by her parents William and Eliza Kelly shortly after her marriage to Alexander MacCallum in 1879 and at the time only consisted of the front porched half. In 1882, when Daisy and Alexander moved in the house was equip with hot and cold water in three different places, a bathroom with a sprinkler overhead for family use, five airy bedrooms, a cheery dining room, a parlor with space for a library, a pantry with a washroom, a fine view from the south and protection from storms on the North.

Daisy, Alex, and their son Donald lived there until 1885 when they moved to Glen Blair, east of Fort Bragg, so that Alex could manage a mill for Daisy´s uncle Captain Blair. Daisy gave birth to her daughter Jean while in Glen Blair. When the mill slowed they went to San Fransisco and moved there permanently in 1896 when Captain Blair died. Daisy returned home to Mendocino after Alexander died in 1908. Jean stayed in San Fransisco and Donald came back with Daisy. She had the house moved forward and to the West to where it currently stands. After the earthquake in 1906 the foundation of the house was damaged and was redone along with the addition to the back of the house. The earthquake had not only damaged the house but it had a great devastating impact on Alex´s health and inevitably led to his death. All the additional work that was done to the house after the repairs was more to keep Daisy occupied than out of necessity.

Daisy MacCallum lived in the house until her death in 1953 at the age of 94. Donald, who had lived with her all of his life and in later years became her chauffeur and lived there until his death in 1960. Jean had a custodian take care of the house until her death in 1970 and the house was then sold to William and Susan Norris in 1974 when it became a Bed and Breakfast. In 1985 it was sold to the present owners Joe and Melanie Reding who have maintained it as an Inn with a restaurant and bar and have restored and updated it in ways Daisy would approve. The "Apple Shed" now used as an office for the restaurant owners, was once used as a storage room for the apples from the Kelly orchard. The books many pieces of furniture and pictures now used in the restaurant and Inn belonged to Daisy.



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