Property Record
9242-9244 W NATIONAL AVE
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Red's Novelty Company |
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| Reference Number: | 229972 |
| Location (Address): | 9242-9244 W NATIONAL AVE |
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| County: | Milwaukee |
| City: | West Allis |
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| Year Built: | 1959 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 2015 |
| Historic Use: | small office building |
| Architectural Style: | Contemporary |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
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| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
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| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | This two-story, flat-roofed building is constructed of concrete block and sheathed with brick. Two angled and inset entrances, each trimmed with small, square tile, are located along the W. National Avenue elevation, along with a band of floor-to-ceiling, plate-glass windows outlined with concrete. The second-floor, one-over-one-light, sash windows are trimmed both above and below with a continuous band of concrete. The elevation along S. 93rd Street originally included two additional entrances; one of which has since been infilled with a window. The east elevation is “notched” at the center, providing for a window well to the interior of the building. Although a one-story concrete block building was erected at this location in 1949, it was added onto in 1959-60, which resulted in the building’s current appearance. Jerome “Red” Jacomet, was responsible for both the initial construction and the later addition/alteration, which included four apartments on the second floor. It was in this building that he operated “Red’s Novelty Company,” a firm in the business of distribution and the servicing of “amusement machines,” which included juke boxes. As of 1954, the business added cigarette vending and, by no later than 1967, it expanded to include the distribution of “photo machines.” Begun in 1938, the family-owned firm continues today but has since moved to a location on S. 74th Street, also in West Allis. |
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| Bibliographic References: | Original permit for 9242-9244 W. National Avenue, August 1949, owner Jerome Jacomet, estimated cost, $7,500; Permit for rear addition (44 x 21), 23 October 1958; Permit for store addition, 12 August 1959, estimated cost, $55,000. It appears that the 1958 addition did not come to fruition but the 1959 work did; The Billboard: The Amusement Industry’s Leading Newsweekly (21 August 1954), 91; Billboard: The International Music-Record Newsweekly (18 February 1967), 105; Red’s Novelty Co., Company website, Available online at http://redsnovelty.com, Accessed October 2015. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |