Property Record
929 W HISTORIC MITCHELL ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Fons & Co. Realty Building |
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| Other Name: | St. Anthony Catholic Church School - Maria Hall |
| Contributing: | Yes |
| Reference Number: | 111370 |
| Location (Address): | 929 W HISTORIC MITCHELL ST |
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| County: | Milwaukee |
| City: | Milwaukee |
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| Year Built: | 1924 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 19802017 |
| Historic Use: | small office building |
| Architectural Style: | Neoclassical/Beaux Arts |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Stone - Unspecified |
| Architect: | Gurda and Gurda |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | West Mitchell Street Commercial District |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 11/9/2018 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 5/18/2018 |
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| Additional Information: | Housed the Fons and Sons Real Estate office from 1925 until the early 1970s. This company was a Polish realtor and developer. They purchased and subdivided the tract between Dakota, Oklahoma, S. Ninth and S. 13th. They did the same thing with the tract between S. Fifth and S. Fourth south of Lincoln. In the 1920s this company was the south side's largest home building concern. First office was near Brady and Humboldt then to an office on S. 5th St. in 1890, then around 1901 to 1680 S. Fifth St., and in 1906 to 600 W. Mitchell. On same parcel as 933 W. Mitchell (AHI 111369). 2017: The real estate firm Fons & Co. hired in 1924 the architecture firm of Gurda & Gurda to design this office building. Fons & Co. traces its roots to 1887 when M.J. Wawrzyniakowski started a real estate business, which he moved to Milwaukee’s south side in 1890. In 1901, he partnered with Louis A. Fons and five years later, the firm moved to Mitchell Street. The name was changed to Fons & Co. in 1910. In the 1920s, the firm expanded into development and constructed several hundred homes in twenty-three neighborhoods on Milwaukee’s South Side; marketing most of them to the sons and daughters of Polish immigrants. The firm remained here into the 1980s. |
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| Bibliographic References: | Borun, pp. 236-238. City directories 1947-1977. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |