The McHenry Mansion is a Victorian-

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian ...

historic house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that has been transformed into a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a ...

situated in the historic downtown of

Modesto Modesto () is the county seat and largest city of Stanislaus County, California, United States. With a population of 218,464 at the 2020 census, it is the 19th largest city in the state of California and forms part of the Sacramento-Stockton ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. It was originally built in 1883 as a residence for

Robert McHenry Robert Dale McHenry (born April 30, 1945) is an American editor, encyclopedist, philanthropist and writer. McHenry worked from 1967 for Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. or associated companies, becoming editor-in-chief of the ''Encyclopædia Brita ...

, a prominent local resident.

History

In 1880, Robert McHenry purchased five lots on the corner of 15th and I streets in Modesto for what would become the McHenry Mansion. McHenry hired Jeremiah Robinson, a Stockton contractor, to design and construct the mansion. Construction 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. Oramil and Louise divorced in 1901 and Oramil married Myrtie Conneau in 1902. Myrtie inherited the McHenry Mansion following Oramil's death in 1906 from stomach cancer. The mansion changed ownership again when Myrtie remarried, to William Langdon, in 1908. Subsequently, the mansion became the Elmwood Sanitarium in 1919, then the Langdon Apartments in 1923. It 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 McHenry Mansion through the Julio R. Gallo Foundation to preserve it. The 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 mansion was damaged in a major fire and has since been restored to its original state.

References

Bibliography

External links

Official siteMcHenry Museum Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mchenry Mansion Historic house museums in California Museums in Stanislaus County, California Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in California History of Stanislaus County, California Buildings and structures in Modesto, California Italianate architecture in California Victorian architecture in California Houses in Stanislaus County, California National Register of Historic Places in Stanislaus County, California