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Porter Kelsey House

Contributor: 
Johannes Allert
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Porter Kelsey House, 14853 North Seventh Avenue, Andover, Minnesota. Photograph by Wikimedia Commons user McGhiever, May 15, 2016.

Porter Kelsey House, 14853 North Seventh Avenue, Andover, Minnesota. Photograph by Wikimedia Commons user McGhiever, May 15, 2016.

The Porter Kelsey house was built in Andover in 1887 from materials produced by the owner’s own brickyard. In 2020, it is one of few structures built with Kelsey Brickyard brick that still stands in Anoka County.

The Kelsey Brick Company produced high quality buff-colored brick beginning in 1879. The majority of the brick manufactured there was shipped by rail from Anoka to the Twin Cities and used in the construction of buildings such as the Minneapolis City Hall (interior walls only). Locally, the brick was used in the construction of the Anoka County Courthouse, county schools and churches, the city of Anoka’s commercial buildings, and the smokestack of Anoka’s Washburn Sawmill.

In the early-to-mid 1880s, Porter Kelsey, his family, and his brickyard employees lived in a rambling frame house near the brickyard site. It stood on the west shore of Round Lake, two miles northeast of Anoka, among stands of pine and maple trees. By 1887, his business was prospering, and Kelsey made plans to build a grander home in place of the existing building.

Most houses built during the nineteenth century in rural Anoka County are relatively small, constructed of locally logged pine or oak, composed of two intersecting one-and-one-half story gable ended sections, and void of exterior ornamentation. The Porter Kelsey house, by contrast, is unusually large (it has over twenty rooms) and elaborately decorated. Although it is not a "pure" example of any one architectural style, it features Italianate design elements, including, on the interior an "L" plan, wide eaves with coupled brackets, a truncated hipped roof, a rectangular balustrade atop the roof, and a veranda surmounted by a balustraded balcony. Its external Italianate features are etched glass doors, carved woodwork, decorative hardware, and lighting fixtures (converted from kerosene to electricity) all dating to the turn of the twentieth century. In later years, the family modernized the kitchen, rearranged rooms, and added supporting columns to the archways between two rooms.

The Panic of 1893, coupled with the loss of a long-sought-after spur line running from Anoka to the brickyard, put Kelsey’s company out of business. In 1897, he sold his brick-making machinery, and the brickyard's buildings were torn down.

Members of the Kelsey family continued to live in the house until 1955. The Charley Hartfiel family completed an interior restoration of the house in the late 1970s, and it was added to the National Register of Historic places on December 26, 1979.

Editor’s note: This article incorporates content from a National Register of Historic Places nomination file—a public-domain text.

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© Minnesota Historical Society
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“History of the Kelsey Farm.” Anoka County Union, September 5, 1975.

“The Porter Kelsey Brickyard.” St. Francis Community Courier, January 1997.

Spaeth, Lynne VanBrocklin. “Porter Kelsey House.” National Register of Historic Places nomination file. State Historic Preservation Office, St. Paul.
https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/e85248e1-df62-4ddb-9327-5315a7dd44fc

Related Images

Porter Kelsey House, 14853 North Seventh Avenue, Andover, Minnesota. Photograph by Wikimedia Commons user McGhiever, May 15, 2016.
Porter Kelsey House, 14853 North Seventh Avenue, Andover, Minnesota. Photograph by Wikimedia Commons user McGhiever, May 15, 2016.
The Porter Kelsey House in Andover, ca. 1910. Photographer unknown. Anoka County Historical Society, Object ID# 0000.0000.324.
The Porter Kelsey House in Andover, ca. 1910. Photographer unknown. Anoka County Historical Society, Object ID# 0000.0000.324.
A photograph of the Porter Kelsey House showing the light color of the Kelsey brick used to build the house. Photographer and date unknown. Anoka County Historical Society, Object ID# 0000.0000.325.
A photograph of the Porter Kelsey House showing the light color of the Kelsey brick used to build the house. Photographer and date unknown. Anoka County Historical Society, Object ID# 0000.0000.325.

Turning Point

In 1887, Porter Kelsey decides to use the profits from his prospering Andover brickyard to build a larger house for his family.

Chronology

1879

Porter Kelsey begins to operate a brickyard, the Kelsey Brick Company, in Andover.

1887

Porter Kelsey builds a two-story home on the west side of Round Lake.

1970s

The Charley Hartfiel family renovates the interior of the house.

1979

The Porter Kelsey House is added to the National Register of Historic Places.