817 Ravine Street
Faribault, MN, USA

National Register of Historic Places - Cormack McCall House

Statement of Significance:

The Cormack and Honorah Crowley McCall House is significant within the context of the period of early settlement (oa. 1855-1875) in Faribault.This period encompasses roughly the first twenty years of settlement and corresponds to the Minnesota State Historical Society's Early Agriculture and River Settlement Within that broad context, the McCall House is specifically significant for its association with stone cutter and mason, Cormack McCall, who is recorded as having built some of Faribault’s most outstanding native stone buildings. It is also significant as an example of the type of vernacular native stone housing built during the early settlement days.

Faribault’s early settlement period was marked by the rapid influx of a variety of ethnic groups, both Yankee and European, and the establishment of the early local economy. That economy Included a mix of local businesses including dry goods and hardware stores, clothing stores, meat and grocery markets, drug stores, boot and other shops, a wagon and sleigh building shop, furniture stores, restaurants and saloons, livery stables and blacksmith shops. This period also witnessed the development and the decline of the highly competitive milling (lumber, wool, and flour) Industry along the Straight River Valley. Another of Faribault’s earliest industries was the quarrying of stone. The variety of limestone that was quarried in this locale was eventually shipped throughout the region and was used for homes, Churches and public buildings. The stone also comprises the building material of some of Faribault’s earliest buildings, Faribault’s later role in the regional economy was nurtured v/with the arrival of the first railroad in 1865 and the beginning expansion of trade outside the immediate vicinity of Faribault.

The rapid immigration to and formation of an economy in Faribault was owed to a location that initially brought settlers into Rice County via steam travel up the river valleys. As early as 1855, Faribault found itself at the intersection of an early network of roads including the Lake Pepin, Spirit Lake, Dodd (and St. Paul), and Hasting’s roads that brought immigrants from all directions. Faribault’s strategic location on the Straight River and at the intersection of new roads, combined itself with an environment of bountiful waterways, hardwood forests, and farmland, and drew settlers who saw the potential for entrepreneurship and a better life.

The arrival of many ethnic laborers in Faribault, among them Irish and German stonemasons, influenced the design and material of many of Faribault’s earliest buildings. Having come from areas in Europe with stone building traditions, these local builders continued to use their masonry skills and sense of design in many of Faribault’s most handsome and well-built buildings. This indigenous natural resource, combined with the development of major religious and state institutions and their need for facilities, served to draw master craftsmen and designers to Faribault. Stonemasons William E. Jones, Edward Goodman, Thomas and Cormack McCall came to Faribault to work on the large stone contracts being generated by these institutions.

Cormack McCall was born in 1836 in Ireland, and as a youth learned stone cutting in England. By the mid-i350s Cormack and his brother Thomas had traveled to America and were working as stonecutters in New York City where they participated in the construction of Saint Patrick's Cathedral. Cormack McCall's obituary notice noted that he cut the cornerstone for the cathedral and was present at the laying of the stone in 1858.

McCall came to Minnesota in 1861 and settled in Faribault. In 1867 he purchased the Ravinne Street site from Alexander Faribault and built his stone house ca. 1871.

Cormack and his brother, Thomas, served as stonemasons in Faribault for most of their adult lives Cormack participated in the construction of the Episcopal Cathedral, Shumway Chapel and Shumway Hall at Shattuck School, the original School for the Feeble-Minded, Seabury Hall and Johnston Hall at the Seabury Divinity School, and Mott Hall at the School for the Deaf.

Cormack McCall lived at the Ravine Street homestead for approximately forty-four years until his death in June of 1915. Cormack and wife Honorah Cronley McCall are reported to have had twelve children, ten of which survived Cormack at his death in 1915.

The Cormack McCall House, though simple in plan, is distinctive as the work of a craftsman who has mastered the medium of stone. The simple plan, modest size and minimal decoration of the McCall house is typical of the type of early housing built by local masons with their vernacular sensibilities. There are eleven other extant stone vernacular houses in Faribault, all built by working class families after an initial period of establishment within the Faribault economy. All exhibit simple plans, minimal stylistic embellishment, and labor-intensive building techniques. They are distinctive for their flush stone lintels, protruding door and windowsills, interior beveled index openings and approximately twenty-inch-deep walls.

Cormack McCall's original house, consisting of the one and one-half story main massing and the one-story limestone "summer kitchen" wing to the south, displays a cognizant simplicity and sensitivity to balance. This quest for balance in design is demonstrated with the false chimney located on the east end of the roof ridge. The "chimney" visually creates a balanced and familiar framing of the structures massing on the main (north) elevation but falls directly over the stacked windows on the lesser, east elevation. The simplicity of design, complemented by the sensitivity of additions through time have provided Faribault with one of its most outstanding stone houses. The alterations through time have not significantly compromised the quality craftsmanship or vernacular sensitivities of the house.