Lovell, W., 839: Alonzo T. Prentice House

Home of Steamship Agent

The Alonzo T. Prentice House sits at the southeast corner of W. Lovell and Davis streets in the Vine Neighborhood. The home, built in 1884, exhibits a mixture of Victorian and Gothic Revival elements. This creative blending lends the house an idiosyncratic personality, with individual accompaniments adding to its charm. There are multiple gables and two flat roof porches with ornamental trim, heavily stylized brackets, a bay and dormer window on the west side of the home, and clapboard siding. The home features a fieldstone foundation with quatrefoil-designed lattice work along the underside of the porch. The builder and architect are unknown. Prentice, who immigrated to Kalamazoo from the state of New York around the middle part of the 19th century, was associated with the Michigan Central Railroad as an ocean steamship ticket agent. He was also a jeweler by trade. Prentice lived in the home until his death in 1907.

Written by Ryan Gage, Kalamazoo Public Library staff, March 2024