The 1930 Milwaukee Jewish Home for the Aged, 2436 N. 50th St., was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Oct. 16, two months to the day after it was added to Wisconsin's state register.
A new plan for the late Gothic Revival building by KG Development Group LLC will create 41 units of affordable housing there, with nearly half set aside for Milwaukeeans facing emergency housing situations and trauma.
The plan includes on-site support services provided by a partner organization.
The historic designation could allow the owners to seek historic tax credits for the $8.5 million project that also has $1 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funding and tax credit equity financing from Wisconsin's Housing and Economic Development Authority.
The Jewish Home as an institution was founded in 1906 to serve a growing number of elderly Milwaukeeans in need of assistance. It was initially located on 7th and Galena Streets.
Architect Charles F. Smith designed this purpose-built facility in 1929 and it was built by contractor Seltzer-Ornst. It was constructed with funds raised in a campaign led by Mrs. Sig Ruscha and a $10,000 donation from philanthropist Nat Stone.
"This demand for elderly housing corresponded with early- and mid-20th century national trends in increasing elderly populations and increased life expectancy," noted a statement by Wisconsin Historical Society. "By 1949, the Jewish Home expanded again to accommodate more residents and updates to their medical services, reflecting the new and expanding field of geriatric medicine in the United States.
"By the 1970s, the demand of more residents surpassed what the property could provide, and fundraising efforts led to a much larger building near Lake Michigan."
The Jewish Home & Care Center is now located at 1414 N. Prospect Ave.
"The Jewish Home is an excellent representative example of early-20th century elderly housing and the evolution of elderly housing and care," WHS said of the designated building. "They based their philosophy on Jewish tenets while providing necessary medical treatment to aging residents.
"The Jewish Home served the elderly Jewish community over the course of its 45 years of operation at this location. The organization continues to serve the Jewish community by Lake Michigan."
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
