Property Record
1131-1133 W LINCOLN AVE
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | STANLEY DEJEWSKI BUILDING |
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| Other Name: | La Gardenia |
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| Reference Number: | 26925 |
| Location (Address): | 1131-1133 W LINCOLN AVE |
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| County: | Milwaukee |
| City: | Milwaukee |
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| Year Built: | 1916 |
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| Additions: | 1938 |
| Survey Date: | 1994 |
| Historic Use: | grocery store/supermarket |
| Architectural Style: | German Renaissance Revival |
| Structural System: | Masonry |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
| Architect: | A. MICHALAK |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | REMODELED TO CURRENT APPEARANCE IN 1916; ASBESTOS SHINGLES COVERED THE ORIGINAL STUCCO IN 1938. Some of Milwaukee's best examples of Polish-influenced commercial architecture line this stretch of West Lincoln Avenue. This commercial district developed during the early twentieth century to serve the South Side's burgeoning Polish-American community. Many structures here feature lively, curvilinear gables, distinct from their angular Victorian neighbors. The distinctive curves recall the scrolled gables of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Polish townhouses. For many years, the Stanley Dejewski Building housed Dejewski’s saloon and later his grocery store downstairs; he lived upstairs in the bay-windowed flat. The date of his fine structure is unknown, but it was remodeled to its present form in 1916, when scrolled-gable architecture was at the peak of its popularity on the South Side. The shingles add a textural contrast to the more industrial materials forming the façade. "The eye-catching gable in this facade has a little more detail than most and features a fascia board that accentuates the flowing shape of the gable, which is ornamented with four short pilasters. Stanley Dejewski moved to an existing building on this corner in 1901 when he was 36 years of age and operated a saloon and an express business with his partner, Joseph Filipkowski. Dejewski later operated a grocery store here. The old building was remodeled to its present form in 1916 at a cost of $4,000, which included raising the roof and brick veneering the entire structure, as well as construction a new front facade. Still later, Dejewski worked as a cabinetmaker. He died in 1944 at the age of 79. The storefront was later rented out to various tenants includings a clothing store, a jewelry shop, and a drug store. The gable's original stucco cladding was covered with asbestos shingles in 1938." MILWAUKEE ETHNIC COMMERCIAL AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS TOUR, CITY OF MILWAUKEE DEPARTMENT OF CITY DEVELOPMENT, SEPTEMBER 1994. |
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| Bibliographic References: | PERMIT. MILWAUKEE ETHNIC COMMERCIAL AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS TOUR, CITY OF MILWAUKEE DEPARTMENT OF CITY DEVELOPMENT, SEPTEMBER 1994. Buildings of Wisconsin manuscript. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |