Sign auction, To the highest bidder! Perfect for your own private Rathskellar or Bier Garten! Proceeds go towards completion of the new entry marker on Washington Circle and Milwaukee Aveenue. Bidding will run through July 31st! Email bids to whhpc501c3@gmail.com.
It all started when Ronald Reagan became President. The first Wauwatosa Tour of Homes was held in 1981. It turned into an annual event in 1989, and this year, the Wauwatosa Historical Society (WHS) will be celebrating its 30th tour by returning to the Washington Highlands.
The one day event, themed “The Tudors of the Washington Highlands,” will be held on Saturday, October 4, 2014, from 10 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and features six homes in our neighborhood: three on Alta Vista Avenue (1639, 1651, and 1716), two on Mountain Avenue (1641 and 1806), and one on Hillcrest Drive (6708). This is the fifth time the tour has visited the Highlands.
With the help of neighbor and architect, John Klett, AIA, The Washington Highlands Historic Preservation Corporation has finalized plans for the main entry marker at Washington Circle and Milwaukee Avenue. The new marker will be located in the median in front of the existing deteriorating wooden sign. The scale of the marker is proportionate to the site and its design is consistent with the other Washington Highlands entry markers. A drawing of the entry marker is featured below.
A capital campaign is being announced to fund this significant addition to the neighborhood. The estimated cost to erect the new marker, including foundation, lighting and landscaping, is $35,000. All donations to the Washington Highlands Historic Preservation Corporation are fully tax deductible and may be ear marked expressly for this project. With a successful fund raising effort, the marker will be completed in the late spring of 2014.
Donations may be mailed to:
WHHPC
PO Box 26723
Wauwatosa, WI 53226
My name is Jean Ellen Davidson and I was born in 1937. My childhood was spent at 6561 Washington Circle in a home that was built for my father and mother. Gordon McLay Davidson and his wife, Doris. Gordon was the oldest son of Walter Davidson. Walter was one of the founders of the Harley-Davidson Motor Company and its first president. Gordon was the Vice President in charge of manufacturing. I am a middle child. I have an older sister named Barbara and a younger sister named Christine.
The walking tour pamphlet of the Washington Highlands was authored by Cynthia Lynch and her late husband Bruce. Prior to their creation of the pamphlet in 1991, the authors had been retained by the Washington Homes Association to research and prepare the Washington Highlands’ nomination forms for the National Register of Historic Places.
The pamphlet outlines a walking route through the Highlands and provides historical information about the neighborhood as well as a map of the original buildings comprising the Pabst Stock Farm. Many of the unique architectural styles are featured on the tour. Sixteen homes are selected for more in-depth discussion. They exemplify the diversity and significance of the various eclectic period revivals and early modern styles found in the Washington highlands.
The document can be printed to form a folded booklet, or view it in single pages for use with mobile devices. The walking tour pamphlet is herein reproduced with the kind permission of Cynthia Lynch.
An original 1887 painting was discovered several years ago when a few of the Pabst Brewery buildings began restoration. The painting was acquired by the Pabst Mansion Foundation and has been cleaned, repaired and hung in the second story foyer of the Mansion. Below is a photo of the unveiling at a Home and Garden party held at the Mansion two years ago.
We are pleased to report that the WHHPC has received reproduction rights from the Pabst Mansion. The original painting is about 3’x5’, but smaller versions (20” x 28”) are available in both a Giclee canvas suitable for framing and a mounted frameless version with a cleat for hanging (photo of hanging frameless version below).
These are available through the WHHPC for $250 each. Bresler-Eitel Framing is offering a 25% discount for neighbors on custom framing of the canvas version. A further description of the painting is below.
Painting: Captain Pabst at the Stock Farm
Artist: Theodor Breidwiser, Austrian, (1847-1930), 1887
In 1885, Captain and Mrs. Pabst purchased approximately 200 acres of land in Wauwatosa, a village just west of Milwaukee. It was on this property Captain Pabst formed a large stock farm to raise Percheron horses to be used for hauling wagons at the brewing company. A successful stud operation continued for years under the direction of Captain Pabst, and horse breeding became a favorite pastime for him. On a hill above the stock farm was a wood house where the family retreated during the hot summer months. All of these images are captured in the painting ‘Captain Pabst at the Stock Farm’, commissioned by Captain Pabst in 1887. The painting, done by a local artist, shows Captain Pabst, his two sons Gustave and Frederick, Jr., along with the farm foreman examining some of the horses, the most prominent at front is his award winning horse named Burg. Completed five years before the Pabst Mansion, this painting originally hung in the offices of the Pabst Brewing Company.
The home-building business thrived as Milwaukee expanded in the early 1900s and the land west of W. Washington Blvd. and N. 60th St. was subdivided to provide new homes. The fields had belonged to the Pabst Brewing Co., which had used them for farming hops. The Kamm family moved into their new home at what is now 6426 Upper Parkway North in December 1919. They were the second family to become residents of the area still known today as the Washington Highlands. The Highlands became a fashionable section of Wauwatosa, valued today by residents and passersby alike for its beautifully landscaped homes, shady streets and countless trees. But in 1919, the sun beat down on fields, weeds, a few saplings and t his newly constructed home. Photograph and information from the Milwaukee Public Library local history collection.
The period revival home exhibits many of the style’s primary characteristics, including a dominant front-facing gabled entry; multiple-light, leaded-glass windows; stone, brick or stucco and false half-timber sheathing (or a combination thereof); wood-shingle, slate or tile-covered gabled roofs; and a dominant chimney.
The home was designed by Ray Dieterich and built by well-known contractor Walter Truettner. It originally was owned by George Jr. and Helen Moerschel.
George Jr., born in 1888, was the son of cigar manufacturer George Moerschel. He was among the organizers of the Socialist party in Milwaukee.
George Jr. worked as a machinist for a variety of companies, including the Schlitz Brewing Company and, by the time the Hillcrest Dr. home was completed, he was the treasurer of Unit Corporation of America, a West Allis manufacturer of forgings. The firm went into receivership in 1932 and the Moerschels sold the home two years later and moved to Kalamazoo, MI.
The Moerschels had one daughter, Helen, who graduated in 1932 from Wauwatosa High School.
Manufacturer John Jambor, his wife Mary and their two children owned the home from 1934 to 1943. It was during their ownership that the garage was enlarged.
In 1943, it was purchased by Herbert and Pearl Nestle, who remained there until 1950.
For the next four years it was owned by Donald and Lillian Smith. For more than 40 years — 1954-1996 — the house was owned by Donald and Wilma Ruff. Donald was a fifth generation brewmaster who worked at Blatz and, following the merger, at Pabst.
The current owners, in the home since 1996, have had significant landscaping done by MKEGreenworks. They were given a Yard of Distinction award in 2013 by the Wauwatosa Beautification Commission.
While many of the original interior features remain, the kitchen has been remodeled and the north wall of the living room has been redesigned for it to function more effectively for a family of seven. Custom windows were installed in the rear porch and it now serves as a year-round living space.
This period revival home exhibits many of the style’s primary characteristics, including a dominant front-facing gabled entry; multiple-light, leaded-glass windows; stone, brick or stucco gabled roofs; and a dominant chimney. It is an Americanized example of the style, which simply means it does not have as many details as English-inspired examples.
The home was built for Frank and May Tharinger.
Frank’s brother Charles was an active architect in the late 1920s; however, Urban Peacock was chosen as the architect for the home.
Frank was born in 1884. He began his career in the insurance business. After his brother William died, he left that occupation to run the Tharinger Macaroni Company in Milwaukee from 1925 to 1930.
Frank also served as a director of Badger State Bank, 2102 W. Fond du Lac Ave. The bank is now known as Seaway Bank and Trust. Among the 1907 founders of the bank was his brother William.
Frank and May, parents of fraternal twins Joan Marie and Robert, remained in the house until selling in 1960 to Charles and Eva Finn. In 1950, Finn founded Milwaukee Ear, Nose and Throat Clinic, Ltd., among the oldest medical service corporations in the state.
The Finns were followed by Michael and Jill Hayford (1990-2010). In addition to removing carpeting, refinishing upper-level floors, stripping wallpaper and repainting, they installed hardwood floors in the living and dining rooms. The rooms originally had poured concrete floors finished with carpeting.
They also remodeled the kitchen, which included an addition to the east that now connects to the family room on the south. The current owners have since completed landscaping, renovated two of the bathrooms and converted attic space for use as a playroom.
This period revival home exhibits many of the style’s primary characteristics, including a dominant front-facing gabled entry; multiple-light, leaded-glass windows; stone, brick or stucco and false half-timber sheathing (or a combination thereof); wood-shingle, slate or tile-covered gabled roofs; and a dominant chimney.
The tour home at was built for Frank and Louise Hubbard and designed by the firm of George Schley & Sons.
Frank was born in Washington, D.C., and moved to Milwaukee in 1907 to take a job with Cutler-Hammer, where he served as a patent attorney for nearly 50 years.
He and Louise had three children: Frank, Allen and Jean. Although Louise died in 1937, the Hubbard family remained in the house through 1943.
The Hubbard’s apparently were bridge players. The front hall was specifically designed to include a bridge table cabinet.
Of the six tour homes, this one changed hands most frequently, with ten owners to date. The longest-tenured owner was insurance agent Peter Rasey and his wife, Suzanne, who lived in the house from the mid-1960s through 1983.
Immediately preceding the current owners, Steven and Jacqueline Rolfe (1996 to 2004) also took advantage of the tax credit rehabilitation program for improvements to the house.
Since 2004, the current owners have had a new wooden fireplace mantel installed in the living room. It previously had been altered from its 1929 design.
They also have had glass doors, made by Oxford Studios, fitted into the existing kitchen cabinets.
On the second floor, they have installed hardwood flooring where none previously existed and have remodeled the primary second-floor bathroom, returning it to a circa-1930 period appearance.