The Mansion & Its Setting
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After a three-year search for the perfect home to convert into a living storybook Victorian House Museum, in 2012 Emmy-nominated Hollywood Set Designer/Decorator James Colburn discovered this French Neo-Renaissance Chateauesque Victorian Mansion which takes pride of place in the Historic Homes District of the Victorian Port City of Manistee in Northwestern Michigan.
The present James is not the first James in the California film industry to enjoy this fine home. In 1993 Oscar, Emmy, Golden Globe and Tony winning actor, James Earl Jones, returned to the historic Ramsdell Theater here in Manistee (where he began his acting career in 1955) to campaign for the playhouse's restoration and provide a book-signing event. During that stay he and his family chose The Dempsey Manor as their pied-a-terre, and occupied all three floors of this stately Mansion. The Dempsey Manor House Museum has been, and is, an irreplaceable architectural treasure, now a stunning and educational museum, and a necessary itinerary stop for anyone visiting Michigan's Northwest.
The man who built the Mansion was another James: the modest but very successful
Lumber Baron, the Honorable James Dempsey (a philanthropist who also served a
term as Mayor of Manistee). The Mansion was designed
and constructed by the prestigious Chicago firm of Holabird and
Roche, who completed it in 1894. Your Host, James Colburn, now
retired from the film and television industry, has devoted a year and a half restoring and furnishing this architectural treasure in Victorian Period style.
In the days of James Dempsey, Manistee was home to many well-to-do residents. In one period of its 19th century boom days, Manistee had more millionaires per-
capita than any other city in the nation. And much larger and grander homes as well.
Alas, all of the other opulent estates are gone, their homes demolished or destroyed by fire. Today, The Dempsey Manor is the largest Lumber Baron residence in town that remains from Manistee's extravagant and unique industrial period.
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The Manistee County Tourism Authority publishes a fascinating and
highly esteemed booklet on Manistee Self-Guided Historical Tours, which
includes The Dempsey Mansion, and features this introductory Tour Video:
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From the State of Michigan
Pure Michigan - The James Dempsey Mansion Story
narrated by Hollywood film and television star (and Manistee-an!), actress Toni Trucks*
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.(1) From Manistee, Toni relocated to Los Angeles to make her television debut as the female lead on Showtime’s acclaimed comedy series Barbershop *
Other television credits include Hostages, The Soul Man, House, All of Us, Veronica Mars, 'Til Death, Brothers, CSI: NY, Made in Jersey, Grimm, the telefilms Star Runners and Starstruck, and her current co-starring role as Lisa Davis in the CBS weekly series SEAL Team. Her previous film credits include Dreamgirls, Weapons, and Music and Lyrics, and co-star of the 2012 Fox Searchlight film Ruby Spark
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Email us.
We can arrange a tour for you
providing memories you will love to
share for a long time to come.
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The Hon. James Dempsey
Lumber Baron, Banker, Manistee-Grand Rapids Railway Owner, Postmaster, and Mayor of Manistee, MI.
Interesting to know...
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The Mansion was erected in 1894.
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It was built by Irish immigrant and Manistee Lumber Baron, James Dempsey - as his last home in Manistee.
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It was constructed by the leading Chicago architects Holabird & Roche.
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The mansion is of frame construction, but is veneered with three stories of brick facing.
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The facade reflects the Victorian French Neo-Renaissance Chateauesque style, and is believed to be one of only four 19th century residential examples of this style in the state of Michigan.
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Mr. Dempsey was 62 years old when he took occupancy of the mansion, moving in with his wife, Mary (Mullen) Dempsey, four (unmarried daughters) of his 12 children, and servants.. This was probably Mr. Dempsey's third Manistee home. He also built the lovely Victorian home two doors South for one of his daughters, a home for his parents next door (destroyed by fire in the 20th century), and a home for one of his sons, behind the mansion on Oak Street.
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Mr. Dempsey used a large room on the Mansion's third floor as a billiard hall.
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In the 1990s the Mansion was used as an Assisted Living home at which time the elevator was added.
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The Mansion has two towers crowned with original polished copper finials, over 8000 square feet of living space in 29 rooms, most with room ceilings over ten feet tall,
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and was built with six and one-half baths.
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The interior contains: twenty-nine patterns of wallpaper, with
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original oak and parquet flooring remaining throughout.
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There are two dining rooms (Servant's Dining Room is now an Office),
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two butler's pantries,
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two parlors (a ladies' parlor and a gentlemen's parlor),
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a formal library,
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a three-story atrium,
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ten original bedrooms,
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a former billiards parlor (now a suite),
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an attached Victorian glass conservatory,
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ten original fireplaces,
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two formal entries and three service entries,
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a first floor living suite with private entrance,
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a large finished basement with servant quarters,
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forty-eight original interior doors
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and sixty-one windows (all of which are original).
James Colburn, Your co-Host
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James, a California native, who earned his Bachelor’s degree in Music Performance from the University of California at Santa Barbara, also holds a Master's degree in Religious Studies with a Theology Emphasis from Mount St. Mary's in Los Angeles, CA; he is currently working on a doctorate through Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.
He began his training in design in Los Angeles in 1974; and later, with landscape designer Ronald Joseph Ferris, founded Greenleaf Landscape & Design, still in operation today.
In 1980 James formed the firm Natural Selection Inc., a large L. A. art, antiques and import showroom catering to celebrities, entertainers, architects, contract specifiers and interior designers.
From 1978, concurrently, he pursued a successful career in Hollywood as a film and television Set Decorator. He is a life-long member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. During his decades in the Industry, he has worked at Universal Studios, Columbia Studios, Warner Bros., New World Productions, Lorimar, Paramount Studios, Sony Studios, The Hollywood Studios, Glen Larson Productions, Castle Rock, Amblin, Spelling, 20th Century Fox, and other film production companies.
His many credits include Full House, Valerie, The Hogan Family, Fathers and Sons, Hart to Hart, House Calls, Half-Nelson, The Pursuit of Happiness, Baryshnikov in Hollywood, Cold Steel and Neon, the Love Boat Special, Canterbury Tales, Real Life, The Sid Caesar Show, Fathers & Sons, Walter, The 25th Man, Anything But Love, the sci-fi series "V," Spielberg’s Amazing Stories, Glitter, Beggarman Thief, Walter, Perfect Strangers, and others including many pilots and commercials; earning an Emmy nomination for the television series Good Time Harry, in 1981.
At the age of 52, weary of a career meant "for the young and tireless," he answered a long-time call to ministry, completed post-graduate studies, and was ordained a Christian Orthodox priest. For nearly two decades in the mountains above Los Angeles, he managed St. Helena's Retreat Camp adjacent to the Angeles National Forest; additionally during this period, he served as assistant pastor of a small Arabic-speaking community of Middle-Eastern Christians and immersed himself in Orthodox studies.
Retired from parish service in 2013, James moved to the Midwest to be closer to his remaining family – all Midwesterners.
Fascinated by Victorian architecture, he was drawn to Manistee by the landmark 1894 James Dempsey Mansion, on Lake Michigan’s spectacular Northwest Coast. After extensive refurbishing, James opened The Dempsey Manor Victorian House Museum in the Summer of 2014. Today, this French twin-towered Neo-Renaissance home is a 29-room castle-like chateau which James has given a double mission. It serves as an historic museum open to the public for educational tours; and as a unique setting for personal and spiritual growth workshops.
James, a concert and musical-theater performer in early life, has recently taken to the stage again as a local actor and singer for the Manistee Civic Players at Manistee's opulent 1904 Ramsdell Theater, the first performance stage for locals-turned-Hollywood celebrities Toni Trucks (Barbershop, Dream Girls, Music & Lyrics, and currently the CBS series SEAL TEAM); and Academy and Emmy Award actor James Earl Jones.
Over three production seasons in Manistee, James has enjoyed performing the roles of the villainous banker, Henry Potter, in the musical It's a Wonderful Life; Manolo, a lusty Spaniard in the female version of The Odd Couple; and Sam Katz, a Jewish widower who encounters three grieving but zany Jewish widows, in the comedy The Cemetery Club.
Now living surrounded by the Great Lakes, James remarks “The character of this land is a sensory feast for me, glacier-carved and at its edge lapped by an immense emerald-shaded fresh-water inland sea. Never are two summers, springs, falls or winters the same.
“These experiences are shaped in the context of a rich folk culture, a unique frontier history, the multi-ethnic traditions Michiganders have preserved, and the satisfying warmth of human connection the small town of Manistee has made possible."
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