Property Record
1025 E LOCUST ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Ma Baensch Food Products Company |
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| Other Name: | Ma Baensch Herring |
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| Reference Number: | 233560 |
| Location (Address): | 1025 E LOCUST ST |
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| County: | Milwaukee |
| City: | Milwaukee |
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| Year Built: | 1914 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 2017 |
| Historic Use: | industrial building |
| Architectural Style: | Astylistic Utilitarian Building |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
| Architect: | Henry Sotter |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| 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 Ma Baensch brand was founded by Lena Baensch in 1932 when she began marketing her family’s marinated herring recipe to local grocers. The company operated somewhat informally until 1945 when it relocated to its current headquarters on Locust Street. This 2-story astylistic industrial building was constructed in 1914, originally as a Cudahy Brothers meat locker; the Ma Baensch company purchased the building in 1946. It is irregular in plan with red brick walls and a flat roof. The building is located at the corner of Locust Street and Humboldt Boulevard so that it has two primary facades. The east elevation contains five rectangular window openings at the first story, all of which have been boarded over; its second story contains a 4-over-1 window and two small louvered ventilation panels. A pattern of raised bricks with stone accent pieces creates a rectangular detail above the first story windows; an advertising banner has been set into this area. The same brick and stone detailing is located just below the roofline on the east side of the building where it spans the elevation; a painted advertisement reading “MaBaensch’s Ocean Caught Herring” has been applied to this space. The east elevation consists of the main 2-story building mass and a 1-story projecting garage bay that spans the width of the elevation. The 1-story mass contains a rectangular window opening filled with glass block, three garage bays of different sizes (each with overhead metal garage doors) and a pedestrian-scale security door. The second story of the main building mass contains seven 6-over-1 windows and one 4-over-1 window. |
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| Bibliographic References: | Company website: http://www.mabaensch.com/ |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |