The historical Beeler House, Mankato, has recently undergone a lot of restoration and unique updating. This 120 year old Queen Anne Victorian House was one of the several historic houses featured during the 150th Year Mankato Celebration held on Memorial Weekend. Located on Commercial Street, this unique house is thought to be built by L.C. Beeler, a farmer from the Ionia area. He was the son of the well known early pioneer farmer-stockman, Fredrick Beeler. He lived in the house until the 1930s. Years later, Bill and Mary Lagergren purchased the house and lived there for 30 years, using it not only as their home but also using some of the main level rooms for their income tax service business.
Characteristics of this Queen Anne Victorian are its exterior trim, a wrap around columned supported porch, fancy leaded and stain glass windows, dormers, gables, a upper balcony and most of all its painted lady styling given by the current owners. Kelly Stafford and Jaime Potts are the mother and daughter team that fell in love with this house and made the decision to move from Portland, Oregon, to Mankato to live. Kelly said she wanted to make a change in her place of residence but thought she wanted to move somewhere next to water, but when her daughter found this place, "Where did I move, but to Kansas." Kelly left her real estate brokerage business interests back in Portland but makes regular visits back west to keep in touch with things. Her daughter Jaime is a fashion designer and had her own store but decided that she too was ready for a change knowing she could continue to do her work online.
In October of 2020, Jaime visited several communities including Mankato. After checking out houses, she decided this house was the one for her and her mother. "Mother and I always wanted a place like this to restore," added Jaime. After Kelly saw a video of this house, she knew it "checked all the boxes. It is a Victorian but I call it an unfussy Victorian." They knew going into the project of restoration that it would be a big job but they were ready for the challenge. "We are both optimistic," added Kelly. Jaime started on the project while her mother remained in Oregon. She knew her mother had health issues in breathing in dust that included all the elements encountered when walls are torn into. So Jaime began knocking out the lathe and plaster. According to Jaime, she is thankful Mark Melby, Scandia, came to their rescue in acquiring the needed help and materials. After two months of plugging holes, removing the old insulation, vacuuming out all the walls that were torn out, sheet rock was installed. Kelly arrived in Mankato to work with her daughter on making the design plans come to life. One of the major plans that had to be addressed was making improvements to the house's foundation and structure. The basement was constructed using native limestone blocks that created its 12 foot tall ceilings. New electrical and plumbing work were completed. The restoration work is mostly done but there are still a few details that need completed. The women are pleased though that most of the work was done in 10 months.
The house exterior is painted in the Victorian "painted lady" style using the color turquoise with gray trim. The entry sidewalk and the sidewalks all around house are new, along with the new stairway and railing that leads up to the wrap around porch where the women enjoy sitting out in the warmer weather. New fir flooring was installed for the porch floor.
An iron fence was put into place all around the yard. The women love flowers so several plants were added to the existing ones within the yard.
The main entrance into the house is through a large door, into the foyer. The curved stain glass windows on each side of the main door can't be missed. Upon entry through another door, leads a person directly into the parlor, that is complete with a comfy Victorian style dark pink couch and complimentary chairs. The glass coffee table featured a large bouquet of peony flowers.
Right away Kelly and Jaime's eclectic design style, along with their love of antique furnishings mixed in with modern furniture gives the rooms a cozy feeling. Their favorite colors are on the walls and in the décor, including all shades of pink, blues, teal, greens and of course turquoise.
There is a north large room the women use as their living room complete with a white sectional, along with some other interesting furnishings. The walls of the living room feature a dark purple color.
On into the room off the parlor room is the dining room. There are two large pocket doors that can be used to close and separate the living room and dining room from the parlor. These two doors had to be restored and made operable once again.
The woodwork throughout the main floor is mahogany with the floors being oak. All were restored by the women taking off layers of lacquer. There is picture railing trim surrounding the parlor and living room walls.
The dining room wall features a dark blue color as an accent wall. There is a large silver crystal chandelier above the long dining room table. Three curved large glass windows are in a half circle, to the south side of the room, flooding the room with light. A gold framed large mirror is on the east wall.
A door off the dining room leads into the kitchen room that has been enlarged and other entryways were enclosed. Large black on white patterned tiles were put into place as a back splash. White cabinets were installed along with granite counter tops and open shelving were put into place on the walls. The kitchen is brightened with three windows on the east side of the room. The eye catching addition to the kitchen are the retro pink appliances. The new flooring is also of the old but new styling.
Off the kitchen is a hallway between the dining room and an open staircase. Here the walls are covered in colorful wallpaper featuring designs of peacocks, greenery and flowers, incorporating most of the women's favorite colors.
An outside door is on the east side of the hallway. It has a beautiful frosted glass window. Another large 8 foot door nearby leads into a large bedroom that used to have an entrance off the living room. There is an updated master bathroom complete with a walk-in shower.
The open staircase newel is topped with an attached copper based lamp. Up the staircase is a hallway and to the north is a bedroom complete with two good sized closets. Across the hallway from the north bedroom is a full sized bathroom that features the original claw foot tub, but Jaime made sure a large shower head was installed over the tub. Honeycomb tiling decorates the room.
The next room is the third bedroom. It is on the south side of the hallway and it has a walk-in closet. A half bath is off this bedroom. It features the original sink to the house. The color turquoise is the main color of this room.
There is a large room off the hallway to the west but it is still a work in progress. They plan on turning it into an office and sewing room. It features a Juliet Balcony.
A 20'x20' back porch was built onto the east side of the house, off the kitchen. This new porch replaced an older porch. It was made rounded to match the front porch. A large carport was built to replace the older small garage. More outdoor work is yet to be completed.
Kelly and Jaime are glad they made the move here, enjoy the people and the open spaces. Kelly adds, "It's so quite and peaceful here. This is our forever home."
Kelly and Jaime's next project will be opening a bakery called "Nuthin' Fancy." An article is found elsewhere in this paper telling about their business.
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