The Denslow-Maxwell House on the northwest corner of Kasten and Calpella Streets is one of Mendocino’s most distinctive historic residences, with a past that reflects the town’s entrepreneurial spirit. In 1887, Charles W. Denslow, bookkeeper for the Mendocino Lumber Company, purchased the property and moved an existing small house to a nearby lot. He then hired master carpenter J. D. Johnson to build this handsome new home on the south end of the parcel.
Undated photo of the Denslow-Maxwell House. Note its distinctive round window and brick chimney top, the central conical roof, and double chimney pots.
The following year, the house became home to Denslow’s niece, Adelaide F. Dibble, who operated a fashionable millinery and dressmaking establishment here. For more than a decade, her shop supplied Mendocino’s women with the latest styles in hats, gowns, and trimmings. Following Denslow’s death in 1890, the property passed to his daughter, Catherine Morgan. After Miss Dibble departed for San Francisco in 1899, sisters Carrie and Carolyn Jensen of Point Arena briefly carried on the millinery tradition, operating their own shop here between 1901 and 1902.
In 1903, Perley and Elsie Maxwell purchased the property from Mrs. Morgan. Perley was well known in Mendocino as a general contractor, carpenter, and builder, and also as a gifted photographer who documented life on the coast. He made substantial improvements to the house, altering and expanding the structure while also using it as a base for his contracting and plumbing business.
The house remained in the Maxwell family through the first half of the 20th century, passing from Perley to his wife Elsie, and then to their son Kenneth, who lived here with his wife Elma. In the decades that followed, the property changed hands several times. In 1980, owner Curt Acker remodeled the interior, adding bathrooms in hopes of turning the residence into a bed-and-breakfast inn. Though the plan never materialized, the renovations preserved the building, which was soon offered for sale as an “exquisite renovation” with four bedrooms and four baths, priced at $300,000.
Further restoration efforts in the early 2000s, including new fencing and exterior refinements, reinforced the home’s historic character. Today, the Denslow-Maxwell House continues to stand as one of Mendocino’s architectural landmarks, admired for its distinctive turret, round window, and elegant details that embody more than a century of the town’s history.
Four Walking Tours of Mendocino this week! Wednesday: Haunted Mendocino. Thursday: Murder, She Wrote. Saturday and Sunday: Mendocino Historic District. $25.