| 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.
The St. Bernard Catholic parish, formally organized in 1911, was the first Catholic parish in the City of Wauwatosa. Services were initially held at the site of the future church along Harwood Avenue in a house. Planned in 1916 and completed in 1918, a new church was constructed on the site. An adjacent school, under the direction of the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa, was completed in 1919. A convent was completed in 1922. A new school, complete with twelve classrooms, gymnasium, and cafeteria, replaced the old one in 1955. A new contemporary style church and rectory, designed by the architecture firm Brust and Brust, was completed in 1963. In 1980, the Tosa Community Food Pantry was established, and in 1991, the Sinsinawa Dominicans sisters left the school. The rectory was relocated to a property behind the church and school at 7517 Lincoln Place in 2000, and extensive renovations, including new offices, gymnasium, and elevator, were undertaken the same year. The former rectory and convent building were demolished. In 2010, Wauwatosa Catholic, a new elementary school, was organized in conjunction with the St. Pius X congregation.
2024: The Saint Bernard Catholic Church is a Contemporary style building with an irregular footprint consisting of a rectilinear main block with low-profile, one-story transepts extending from the north ends of the east and west elevations, a semi free-standing bell tower at the southeast corner, and one-story triangular entrance vestibules extending from the façade and hidden by extended outer angled brick walls. The main block has a shallow-pitched prow gable roof with overhanging eaves. The roof is sheathed in rolled roofing and decorative V-shaped dark metal fascia wraps around the eaves with dentil-like ornamentation. The building is clad in common bond red brick with limestone trim and the foundation is concrete. The façade faces south and towers over the low-profile entrance vestibules and decorative outer brick walls that angle back toward the church façade and meet at the center, concealing the entrances on either side. The façade consists of two angled walls that form an obtuse angle projecting at the center. At the center of the façade is a large depiction of Saint Bernard cast in limestone panels that extends from the bottom of the overhanging eaves to the flat roof of the entrance vestibule. Decorative brickwork is also incorporated into the wall with off-set rows of Greek cross cutouts after every three bricks. The crosses are infilled with glazed colored tiles except for the top and bottom two rows that are infilled with brick.
The bell tower is semi free-standing at the southeast corner of the building connected to the church by a small room adjacent to the east church entrance. The bell tower has an H-like plan and it rises taller than the church building with an even taller green, metal Latin cross extending from the center of the tower. The lower three quarters of the tower consists of V-shaped walls constructed of common bond red brick limestone block corners resting on wider limestone blocks. The limestone corners rise above the brick walls to form the open belfry.
At the beginning of its organization, the parish gathered in a house purchased by the congregation in the fall of 1911. The house belonged to John D. Hemlock, a Wauwatosa pioneer, and stood at the current site of the church building along Harwood Avenue. In 1915, adjoining land was purchased and construction of a church building was planned to replace the house in 1916. Saint Bernard Church was dedicated in October of 1917 and the new building was completed in 1918. An associated two-room school building was constructed adjacent to the new church building in 1919. The school was organized and operated by the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa. A convent for the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa was added to the property in 1922. The first transformation of the property occurred during the mid-century when a new, larger school building was constructed in 1955 to replace the old school building. Not long after, the original 1918 church was also replaced by a much larger contemporary style church building and an adjacent rectory and convent building in 1963. Both the church and rectory were designed by the Milwaukee architecture firm Brust and Brust. The new church was constructed in approximately the same location as the original church at the center of the triangular shaped parcel. The rectory/convent was constructed directly west of the church, which is where the west parking lot is located today. In order to make room for the rectory/convent in 1963, at least five residential lots were acquired and the houses demolished along Wauwatosa Avenue on the west side of the church and school lot. In 2000, the 1963 rectory was demolished and the priests re-settled in an existing house north of the church and school lot at 7517 Lincoln Place. Several changes took place in 2000 including adding both the east and west parking lots and constructing a new gymnasium and office addition to the northwest elevation of the original 1955 school building. The original Saint Bernard Catholic School was merged with St. Pius X congregation in 2010 to form a new school at the former Saint Bernard Catholic School building called Wauwatosa Catholic. In 2018, the Wauwatosa Pocket Park was designed and added to the southern corner of the lot. In 2023, St. Bernard and the nearby Christ King Catholic Church were merged into one congregation. In 2024, the St. Bernard property was sold to a real estate developer. |
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| Bibliographic References: | Building and Planning Permit Records, on file at the Wauwatosa Planning Department, Wauwatosa.
Wauwatosa Public Library general history files.
Wauwatosa Historical Society general files.
https://www.jsonline.com/picture-gallery/news/local/2025/02/11/scenes-from-the-demolition-of-historic-wauwatosa-church-and-school/78401649007/
2024:
Bogacki, Father Phillip. Saint Bernard Bulletin Supplement, March 17, 2024.
Davidson, Rowan, Robert Short, and Jennifer L. Lehrke. “City of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin Architectural and Historical Intensive Survey Report of Non-Residential Properties.” Sheboygan, Wisconsin: Legacy Architecture, Inc., 2017.
Fogarty, Bridget. “Milwaukee Buck Pat Connaughton’s Real Estate Firm Plans Apartments for Tosa’s St. Bernard.” Journal Sentinel. Accessed March 13, 2025. https://www.jsonline.com/story/communities/north/2024/04/15/three-leaf-partners-plans-apartments-for-wauwatosas-st-bernard-site/73302710007/.
“Roamin’ Catholic Churches: Saint Bernard Catholic Church, Wauwatosa - VIP Milwaukee Preview.” Roamin’ Catholic Churches (blog), November 1, 2016. https://roamincatholicchurches.blogspot.com/2016/11/saint-bernard-catholic-church-wauwatosa.html.
“Urban Spelunking: Saint Bernard in Tosa.” Accessed February 28, 2025. https://onmilwaukee.com/articles/vipmkestbernards.
Wauwatosa News. October 26, 1917, sec. Local Items. |
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