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Ever dreamed of living in a bit of Milwaukee neighborhood history? Well, a Milwaukee building intended to power streetcars on the West Side is now for sale.
The red brick building, likely designed by architect Herman Esser for The Milwaukee Electric Railway & Light Co., at 6618-20 W. Lisbon Ave., is listed for $850,000.
You can see the complete listing here. The property was listed by The Collaboration Group with Compass RE WI-Northshore.
These facilities were erected all over the city of Milwaukee to distribute power for the elaborate streetcar system that used to ply the city's streets.
Some of them have been given new uses, like one on North Avenue that is home to 20 Ton Studios, an artists' studio.
The Wisconsin Historical Society's Architectural Inventory says that this one on went up on Lisbon in 1946, but that date is surely incorrect, because we know it was built with just four bays and was later expanded to the eight you see now.
Those expansions were in three phases: in 1940, '47 and '53.
Tellingly, the design is quite similar to another substation at 3700 W. Wells St., which the Wisconsin Historical Society dates to 1915, which suggests the construction of the Lisbon building was likely closer in time to the construction of the Wells Street facility.
Streetcar expert Bill Becwar suggests the building likely dates to the 1920s.
That timeline would make sense as development in the area sprouted in the 1920s and boomed in the post-war period, as neighborhoods near the building's Lenox Heights address like Enderis Park, Cooper Park and Kops Park really began to grow.
Becwar also avers that this building never actually powered streetcars, rather it just provided power to the growing neighborhood.
"The plan was to extend the streetcar up Lisbon as the city expanded, and then the building would have had a streetcar line, as the similar power station at 37th and Wells did," he noted. "But the stock market crash killed that idea – permanently as it happened."
Thus, this facility ended up sitting about a mile west of where the streetcar ceased to travel on Lisbon.
Just before the current owner purchased the property, the building was part of an idea to create the Lisbon Food Village, an urban food and wellness facility, with a greenhouse and production facilities, a processing center and retail store, and a building that would house a time bank, resources exchange, community health center, office space for community groups and an education outreach facility.
This building gained some attention a few years back when its owner perched a series of white mannequins atop the top of the building.
At 9,600 square feet, this is among the larger examples of these buildings. But not all of the space is livable. At least it didn't seem so when I visited a few years ago.
The upper floor had been converted into a large apartment, with a lofted space and there was a huge space up there that appeared to be mostly used for storage (and table tennis and drum practice), but could surely become living space.
The home is listed as having one bedroom and one-and-a-half bathrooms on a half-acre lot, but there's a lot of space on that upper level.
Underneath, however, on the first floor, much of the space was narrow and less apparently adaptable, and used for storage. However, some of it serves as a large, bright and airy entry with bike storage and laundry.
Out back is a large grassy patch and space for parking, all behind a fence.
You can find all the details of the place at the listing, along with a few dozen photos of the interior and exterior.
(NOTE: This post was edited to include information from Bill Becwar, and to add details on the additions to the building.)
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.
