Magic Chef Mansion

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Magic Chef Mansion
Stockstrom House.jpg
The Magic Chef Mansion in 2017
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Coordinates 38°36′46.6″N90°14′10.7″W / 38.612944°N 90.236306°W / 38.612944; -90.236306
Built1908
ArchitectErnst Janssen
Architectural style French Renaissance Revival
NRHP reference No. 80004511
Added to NRHPNovember 9, 2018

The Magic Chef Mansion or the Charles Stockstrom House, located at 3400 Russell Boulevard, is a historic house in Compton Heights, St. Louis, Missouri, United States. [1]

History

The Magic Chef Mansion sits on a 2-acre (8,100 m2) lot, with the house itself being 12,000 square feet (1,100 m2). [2] It was built in 1908 and designed by Ernst Janssen, [3] in the French Renaissance Revival style. [4] Its construction took one year and cost $49,500 ($1.7 million in 2024). [2] [5] It was built for Charles Stockstrom, president of Magic Chef, a kitchen appliance company, [6] as well as father of interior designer Eleanor Brown. [7] When finished, the house contained over 30 rooms, including a bowling alley and a library. [4]

After a different daughter of Stockstrom died in 1990, the family sold the mansion to Shelley Donaho [1] for $400,000 ($1.1 million in 2024), at an auction. She renovated it, which included fitting the kitchen with 1930s Magic Chef kitchenware, [6] as well as adding a 1950s-style telephone booth and a plaque in memory of her father, Zane Barnes, who was CEO of Southwestern Bell until 1989. [1] In 2006, Donaho made additional renovations using historic tax credits. [1] As of 2016, she was mostly finished with renovations and rented the mansion for events. [3] She planned to convert it to a museum. [6]

The Magic Chef Mansion holds a urinal which has been studied by art scholars. English art scholar Glyn Thompson argues that Fountain by Marcel Duchamp was actually created by Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven. According to Thompson, Duchamp falsely claimed in 1964 that the urinal featured in Fountain was manufactured by the Mott Company, when it was actually produced by the Trenton Potteries Company. On August 10, 2016, Thompson visited the house to examine a urinal in a first-floor bathroom that is the same make and model as Duchamp claimed, to measure it and note design differences between the two. Scholar Francis Naumann, who believes Duchamp did create Fountain, has also studied it. [8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Mannino, Fran (May 18, 2016). "Magic Chef Mansion 'Crown Jewel' Of Compton Hill Neighborhood". West End Word. Archived from the original on December 13, 2025. Retrieved November 29, 2025.
  2. 1 2 Christensen, Julia (January 22, 2015). "Dynamic People: Shelley Donaho, Looking After a Landmark". Ladue News. Archived from the original on December 11, 2025. Retrieved November 29, 2025.
  3. 1 2 "Magic Chef Mansion is a true St. Louis treasure". ksdk.com. January 29, 2016. Retrieved November 29, 2025.
  4. 1 2 Westhoff, Ben (March 30, 2022). Fentanyl, Inc.: How Rogue Chemists Are Creating the Deadliest Wave of the Opioid Epidemic (in Arabic). Atlantic Monthly Press. ISBN   978-0-8021-4795-0.
  5. ↑ Fadem, Susan (April 5, 2015). "Inside the Magic Stove Mansion". St. Louis Post-Dispatch . pp. H003. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
  6. 1 2 3 Eby, Pat (April 14, 2016). "Restoring the Magic Chef Mansion". St. Louis Magazine. Retrieved November 29, 2025.
  7. ↑ "Collection: Eleanor S. Brown collection | The New School Archives & Special Collections". findingaids.archives.newschool.edu. Archived from the original on June 20, 2025. Retrieved December 1, 2025.
  8. ↑ "The Magic Chef Mansion Urinal and Marcel Duchamp, Part Two". St. Louis Magazine. September 29, 2016. Retrieved November 29, 2025.
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