| 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.
2021: Appearance unchanged.
2022 WisDOT survey information:
Rising two stories, this house is comprised of a main rectangular block with a second, recessed block that extends to the east. Both blocks are topped with a hipped roof and a large chimney rises along the home’s east elevation. Sheathed with cut limestone veneer and featuring stone corner quoining, the home’s style can be categorized as the Regency variation of the Colonial Revival style. Although the double-door entry--which is set within a smooth stone surround and topped with a transom--is located off center along the primary block, the home’s primary elevation is, overall, symmetrical in its design and includes regularly placed, double-hung, multiple-light sash. Transoms also top the pair of windows east of the entrance.
Completed in 1938, this house was built by real estate developer David V. Jennings, for whom the subject subdivision was named. It may have been built on speculation or perhaps it was built expressly for the home’s first known owner occupants, Alfred G. and Melba Pelikan. Alfred Pelikan was born in Germany in 1893 (into a family of circus acrobats) and immigrated to the United States in 1911. Although he entered Pennsylvania College as a pre-med student, he would later attend the Carnegie Institute of Technology and change his major to art and art education. He graduated with a B.A. in 1919 and an M.A. seven years later from the Columbia University Teachers College in New York. From 1920 to 1923, he served as the director of the School of Art & Industry in Grand Rapids, Michigan, during which time he wed Melba Michel (in 1922). From 1923 to 1925, he worked as an instructor at the College of Architecture at the University of Michigan. In 1925, Alfred Pelikan came to Milwaukee to serve as the art director of the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS). Shortly thereafter, he was additionally hired as the Director of the Milwaukee Art Institute (MAI), after which he served in both positions until 1941. Thereafter, he continued in his art directorship for MPS on a full-time basis until his retirement in 1962. The Pelikans remained in the Wauwatosa home until 1950, when they moved to Fox Point. Alfred Pelikan died in 1987. Dr. Hobart (a radiologist) and Elsie Wright purchased the house from the Pelikans in 1950.
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| Bibliographic References: | Citations for the 2022 survey information provided below in Additional Comments:
Original building permit for 8026 W. Wisconsin Avenue, 9 December 1937, cites David V. Jennings as owner, Wm. F. Thalman as contractor, and an approximate cost of $10,000; Assessor’s information cites a 1937 date of construction but, due to the December permit date, the house would not have been completed until 1938, Assessor’s information, City of Wauwatosa, Available online at http://wauwatosawi.devnetwedge.com, Accessed February 2022; U.S. Federal Census, Population, Brief biographies for Alfred G. Pelikan are available in the abstract for the Alfred G. Pelikan Papers (1923-1976), on file at the Milwaukee County Historical Society, Milwaukee, WI, Abstract available online at https://milwaukeehistory.net/pelikan-alfred-g-papers/, Accessed February 2022 and on the Museum of Wisconsin Art (MOWA) website, ‘Alfred George Pelikan,” biography available online at https://wisconsinart.org/archives/artist/alfred-george-pelikan/profile-66.aspx, Accessed February 2021; “The Man Who Helped Make Milwaukee Modern,” Leader-Telegram (Eau Claire, WI), 12 March 1983, 9-10; James Auer, “Longtime Art Backer, Alfred Pelikan, Dies,” The Milwaukee Journal, 21 December 1987; Wauwatosa City Directory, Various dates reviewed between 1939 and 1994. |
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