Martin L. Kelsey House

Martin L. Kelsey House
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
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Location	43 Elmwood Ave, Burlington, Vermont
Coordinates	44°28′54″N 73°12′50″W / 44.48167°N 73.21389°W / 44.48167; -73.21389
Area	less than one acre
Built	1879 (1879)
Architectural style	Late Victorian, Victorian-eclectic
NRHP reference No.	83003208[1]
Added to NRHP	February 24, 1983

The Martin L. Kelsey House is a historic house at 43 Elmwood Avenue in Burlington, Vermont. Built in 1879 for a local merchant, it is a distinctive and architecturally varied house, with elements of the Second Empire, Queen Anne, and Stick styles on display. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983,^[1] and now forms part of a senior housing complex.

The Martin L. Kelsey House stands just north of downtown Burlington, on the west side of Elmwood between Pearl and Grant Streets in a mixed residential-commercial area. It is a 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame structure, with a mansard roof on the main block providing a full third floor. Ells of decreasing size and height extend to the rear of the house, which is set on a small parcel now surrounded by parking lots. The exterior has a large number of decorative elements borrowing from a variety of architectural styles. The mansard roof has a flared lower section, and is crowned by a band of wooden squares with recessed panels. Its dormers have steeply pitched gabled roofs, with elaborate Stick style decoration, and whose windows are framed by Italianate moulding. A large gabled section projects on the left side also with Stick decoration and a finial at the top of the ridge. The main facade is three bays wide, with bands of paneled woodwork below the groundfloor windows and between the first and second-floor windows. An entrance is in the right bay, with an Italianate porch featuring a valance of square panels similar to those that crown the roof. A second porch with similar styling extends along the left side to the projecting section.^[2]

The house was built in 1879, in what was at the time a fashionable residential area north of Burlington's main commercial business district. Martin L. Kelsey, for whom it was built, owned a shoe and boot store on Church Street just two blocks away. His neighbors were similar well-to-do merchants and professionals. As the business district expanded, the neighborhood declined. The house was converted into apartments, and many of its neighbors were demolished in the 1960s.^[2] It has since been made part of McKenzie House, a senior housing complex.

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Chittenden County, Vermont