Property Record
396 S AVON AVE
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Bloom's Tavern, Store and House |
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| Other Name: | Bloom's Tavern |
| Contributing: | |
| Reference Number: | 19149 |
| Location (Address): | 396 S AVON AVE |
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| County: | Price |
| City: | Phillips |
| Township/Village: | |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
| Town: | |
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| Year Built: | 1895 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 1976 |
| Historic Use: | retail building |
| Architectural Style: | Boomtown |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Clapboard |
| Architect: | GEORGE BLOOM |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | Yes |
| Demolished Date: | 2009 |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Bloom's Tavern, Store and House |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 3/7/1985 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 1/1/1989 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: |
| Additional Information: | Destroyed by fire on 5/7/2009. Removed from the National Register on 9/29/2011. 1-1/2 & 1 STORY CONNECTED BOOMTOWN FALSE FRONT BLDGS. DENTILLED AND MOULDED 1ST FLR CORNICE. TRIANGULAR WINDOW IN GABLE. ORIGINAL FACADE AND INTERIOR. OLDEST KNOWN FAMILY OPERATED TAVERN IN N WI. Bloom’s Tavern once served as a gathering place for lumberjacks and millworkers. George Bloom himself had worked for a time in a local sawmill after moving here from Germany in the early 1870s, so he knew a tavern would prove lucrative. His original frame building (constructed in 1884) burned down in a massive fire that nearly leveled the town. This clapboard replacement is a two-story, front-gabled vernacular structure. Its parapet wall steps up to suggest a triangular pediment. The second-floor doorway opens onto a full-width, balustraded balcony, supported by large knee braces. Here dancers once came out from the upstairs ballroom to enjoy the night air. The balcony functions as a canopy over the simple storefront. Inside, the tavern seems frozen in time. The ornate wooden bar and its mirrored back-bar, pine wainscoting, kerosene lamp with crystal prisms dangling from its red shade, brass cash register, and spittoons are all original. Historic card tables and chairs with brewery trademarks and a 1930s jukebox add to the antiquated appearance. Most of the original furnishings were supplied by the Schlitz Brewing Company, which initially subsidized the tavern in exchange for exclusive sales. Women were not allowed in the main room until the 1930s, although they were served in a back room. In 1900, Bloom built a grocery story next door, which his wife, Rose, operated. The one story building’s pedimented parapet echoes the tavern’s general outlines. |
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| Bibliographic References: | Take a Walk on Main Street: Historic Walking Tours in Wisconsin's Main Street Communities, Wisconsin Main Street Program, 1998. Buildings of Wisconsin manuscript. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |