A Beloved Bakery Is Reimagined within Prominent Downtown Commercial Buildings as Part of a Village’s Master Plan
For native son, turned tech CEO, Chris Moore, the restoration and renovation of two landmark commercial buildings in downtown Vicksburg, Mich., began in 2018 when he shared his vision for bringing back the structures to their original 1880s elegance and prominence. The core and shell reconstruction of the buildings, located on a main thoroughfare in the nearly 4,000-person village in southwest Michigan, included the reconstruction of the existing storefronts to their original design using contemporary 1-inch-thick insulated glass, framed and trimmed in durable mahogany to withstand the four-season Michigan climate.
Once home to two iconic village businesses, including the Doris Lee Sweet Shop, the restored buildings, which are connected on the interior, were designated to become Mackenzies Bakery and Prairie Ronde Artist Residency Gallery, which provides event space for Moore’s artist residency program. The bakery and gallery space opened in 2022.
For Moore, the downtown buildings’ painstaking restoration efforts are part of a master plan of which the cornerstone project is the multi-year, $100 million-plus renovation of a former paper mill on the village’s west end into a mixed-use attraction: The Mill at Vicksburg. With The Mill at Vicksburg several years from completion, Moore has been pursuing smaller projects in Vicksburg, like Mackenzies Bakery and the gallery, which pair well with The Mill’s destination goals.
Baking Memories
Mackenzies Bakery, which opened to great fanfare, is a charming storefront that offers artisanal breads, cookies, muffins, jam and coffee. The intent of the restoration of historic buildings and the relocation of a generations-old artisan bakery to the center of town was to bring more people to the historic downtown area with desirable products while demonstrating the revitalization of shuttered spaces into aesthetically pleasing businesses that will benefit generations of locals.
The design of the intimate 1,700-square-foot retail space was centered around the custom display case, intended to delight customers the moment they arrive. The three-sided glass display was created in a custom shape to extend toward the front door and provide a visual for even the youngest guests.
“I fondly remember walking with grade-school classmates to downtown Vicksburg with a quarter in hand, excited to buy a turnover from Otto’s Bakery,” Moore recalled during the bakery’s grand-opening event. “I hope that a visit to Mackenzies Bakery will create a new generation worth of memories for residents and visitors in our hometown.”
The elevated space offers a professional-grade production kitchen and retail storefront with a “historic sweet shop” aesthetic, paired with artisanal bakery motifs from the world’s landmark cities. Custom millwork details line the space, giving depth and visual interest with clean and contemporary lines. The signature elements that nod to 19th century retail spaces include the custom mosaic entry tile with an artful expression of the Mackenzies Bakery logo and a more straightforward, classic, mosaic-patterned floor throughout the retail area.
Measured Ingredients
Moore hired two seasoned bakery professionals to lead the store. These bakers proved instrumental in directing the layout of the open-kitchen concept and the front-of-house flow. The bakery’s functionality was paramount in the design and layout of the spaces, as well as the selection of finishes. Although preserving the historic wood ceiling and a desire to minimize the visual impact of heating and cooling elements put pressure on the small footprint, the architectural team at Eckert Wordell worked on creating efficient solutions to maximize every inch of space.
The west wall of the bakery’s retail space features a massive steel door in a coral color. The door was salvaged from The Mill at Vicksburg—one of many rolling steel fire doors demising sections of the 1904 industrial building. This door was deemed unique as the only non-red door and, because it aligned perfectly with the Mackenzies Bakery brand, it now visually separates the bakery from the gallery. During retail hours, guests of Mackenzies Bakery can use the gallery space as spillover café seating. (A true fire door is rolled above the shared opening on the gallery side.)
Also uniquely salvaged is the set of decorative pendants over the retail counter and display case. These milk-glass globe fixtures were discovered in a neighboring historic building, once home to a dance hall and social club. Electricians refurbished and rewired the fixtures and the glass globes to create an authentic visual of turn-of-the-century interior elements within the bakery.
While salvaged doors and pendant lights provide the jewelry for the space, the interior design was conceived hand-in-hand with the rebranding of Mackenzies Bakery for this historic Vicksburg location. The branding elements took cues from the historic elements on the building’s façade, such as florals and finials that also are used in the Mackenzies Bakery brand’s logo and marketing materials.
The color palette of the interior space reflects a direct correlation to the historic sweet shop that once resided in the space. Examples include the cool, minty-green base color used throughout (though the color was tweaked slightly to contemporize its color value). Surfacing materials, like stained-wood shelves, accentuate the space’s brand colors and overall ambience. The design team chose a solid-surface material that resembles an ice-cream flavor in its visual appearance. No detail was left unstudied throughout the restoration and visioning process and with the rebranding and operational course for the new Mackenzies Bakery.
Chef’s Kiss
The reopening of Mackenzies Bakery in the historic Doris Lee Sweet Shop building is a point of pride for Moore and his Vicksburg-based project teams. The space was painstakingly renovated and, where possible,
restored to its original and historic charm. The effort to restore the building is part of a larger community-based endeavor that resulted in the placing of Vicksburg on the National Register of Historic Places in 2022.
“To be on the National Register is not only a point of pride but a tool for economic and community development. This is a wonderful designation for Vicksburg and a great way to celebrate its local history,” says Martha MacFarlane-Faes, deputy state historic preservation officer.
“We were very excited to open the doors to Mackenzies Bakery and show the community our commitment to restoring these wonderful downtown buildings while contributing to its vibrancy,” Moore says. “I challenged Rebecca [Luong with Paper City Development], Frederick Construction, and our team to carefully design and build a space that would fit in Manhattan or Paris and stand the test of time.”
PHOTOS: Paper City Development
