Showcasing the Michigan DNR: What’s new at Michigan’s historic Mann House

The Mann House, in Concord, Michigan, gives visitors the
opportunity to experience what it was like to live in
Victorian-era Michigan. (Michigan DNR photos)

A couple of years ago, the Mann House needed a paint job – but not just any paint job.

The house, built in 1883 by Daniel and Ellen Mann, is a near-perfectly preserved Victorian-era home in the picturesque community of Concord, Michigan, just west of Jackson. Staff at the Michigan Historical Center and the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) was determined to restore the Mann House’s original look, but it required some detective work first.

The Mann House is a state historic site, exemplifying Victorian life in Michigan. The Manns’ two daughters, Mary Ida and Jessie Ellen, were taught to value education and lifelong learning, which ultimately led them to preserve the family’s nearly unaltered home and its furnishings. Visitors touring the house today are immersed in the family life and Victorian culture that shaped this pair of independent women.

Sisters Mary Ida and Jessie Mann were avid world travelers.
The Mann House collection includes many items from those travels.

Robb McKay, an architect with SHPO, and Mark Harvey, state archivist, teamed up to research the original paint colors used on the Mann House in 1883, working with some paint chips, photos, notes from an oral history of the house and a microscope.

For many decades, the Mann House had been painted white. The earliest known photo of the house, though it is black and white, clearly shows that the house was not originally painted white. A close study of the paint on the house showed three or four layers of an older color, which means it wasn’t painted white until about 1915, McKay and Harvey estimated.

McKay studied paint chips from the house under a microscope to see the varying layers of paint. He determined the house was likely painted yellow when it was first built, accented by trim in two shades of blue-green. 

A close-up view of the second-floor front of the Mann House,
recently restored to its “historically accurate” 1883 paint colors.

The color scheme that Harvey decided on for the house is likely simplified from the original, but it gives the overall impression of what it did look like, McKay said. As often happens when paint research goes back over a century, tests on various areas of trim gave a good idea of the color, without necessarily indicating all the shades that were used. Families in small farming communities often simplified more elaborate urban styles when they adopted them. 

The painting project was finished in 2013. Reaction from neighbors in the small community of Concord has been mixed. 

“I think the house had been painted white for so long that seeing it in color was a shock. I know it was for me,” said Maria Quinlan Leiby, chief curator for the Michigan Historical Center, who has been closely involved with the Mann House.

The paint job isn’t the only thing new at the Mann House. The property is seeing a resurgence of work and research thanks to a new partnership the Michigan Historical Center has with Eastern Michigan University’s (EMU) graduate program in historical preservation.

The dining area in the Mann House reflects the decoration,
dishware and customs of the Victorian era.

Last summer, three graduate students from EMU worked during the week at the Mann House, cataloging artifacts in the house, doing research on the Mann family and the community of Concord, and developing a new house tour for visitors. Among the things they learned were that sisters Mary Ida and Jessie Ellen were ahead of their time when it came to being independent women. 

Ellen Mann and her daughters all graduated from Michigan State Normal School (now EMU), which was unusual for the time. The Mann sisters traveled the world – throughout the United States, Europe and Asia – before it was common for women to travel alone.

The Michigan Historical Center and EMU plan to continue their partnership in 2014, with three graduate fellows once again working at the Mann House. EMU’s historic preservation program sees the partnership as a huge benefit for its students.

“This was an extraordinary opportunity for us,” said Nancy Villa Bryk, assistant professor of historic preservation at EMU. “In the university environment we can teach theory, but when students are thrust into the world of financial, visitor and building challenges – and having an administration to work with – it provides a very real-world setting for them to learn.”

The Mann sisters, Mary Ida and Jessie, were taught the
importance of education, and it led them to carefully preserve
the family home for future generations.

For the Michigan Historical Center, having the fellowship program with EMU provides an opportunity that most historic preservation students rarely get -- the students are essentially given a small museum to operate on their own with limited direct supervision.

“This provides them with more than a glimpse into what awaits them if they choose to work at a museum or a historic site,” said Sandra Clark, director of the Michigan Historical Center. “It gives them solid work experience for their résumés along with the opportunity to support our work, and provides fresh research and insights into a historic property.”

The Mann House is open this year from May 29 through Aug. 31, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. Admission is free. For more information on the Mann House, go to www.michigan.gov/mannhouse.