Property Record
907-11 W NATIONAL AVE
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | J.L. Burnham Block |
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| Other Name: | Reliance Heating & Air Conditioning / Muellar Climat. |
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| Reference Number: | 103630 |
| Location (Address): | 907-11 W NATIONAL AVE |
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| County: | Milwaukee |
| City: | Milwaukee |
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| Unincorporated Community: | |
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| Year Built: | 1875 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 19852021 |
| Historic Use: | retail building |
| Architectural Style: | Italianate |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Cream Brick |
| Architect: | Edward T. Mix |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Burnham, J. L., Block |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 2/11/1988 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 1/1/1989 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: |
| Additional Information: | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, State Historic Preservation Office. Excellent cream brick commercial block. Original in form and appearance with many intact original details including decorative brick cornice, semi circular window arches with keystones and unusual arcaded storefront. Jonathan L. Burnham was a brickyard owner and this block was one of a few that he built as an investment property. Cast iron columns on storefront. The Burnham Block is one of Milwaukee’s few surviving commercial buildings with a top-floor public meeting hall. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Milwaukee proliferated with these upper-story rental halls that played a crucial, though now forgotten urban community role, hosting charity events, weddings, lectures, and labor, political, and social group meetings. Rental halls were also home to myriad fraternal societies organized in the nineteenth century, often by immigrants seeking mutual aid while socializing with others and sharing their culture and language. Burnham Block's spacious third-story meeting hall rented to German-immigrant fraternal groups, lodges of the Knights of Pythias, assemblies of the Knights of Labor, and other organizations. Alterations and Additions (as of 1973 survey): "No major alterations have been made." |
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| Bibliographic References: | Tax Program. 1873-74 City Directory. Cornice. Buildings of Wisconsin manuscript. "Brevities," The Milwaukee Sentinel, 10/27/1875, p. 8. "Brevities," The Milwaukee Sentinel, 12/13/1875, p. 8. History of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Chicago, 1881, p. 1507. Rascher's Fire Insurance Atlas of the City of Milwaukee, Chicago, 1876. Records of ownership, Records and Research, 509 City Hall, Milwaukee. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |