| Additional Information: | Mrs. Jacob Cohen (1911).
"The sweeping curves of the front gable of this former shoe shop call attention to its German Renaissance style architecture. The building is located in a small cluster of commercial structures that served the surrounding German-American residential neighborhood during the early 20th century.
The Jacob Cohen building features yet another variation on the dramatic curving, shaped gables that characterize much of the city's ethnic commercial architecture. The profile of this gable, which has a flame-like appearance because it curves in then out, is referred to as an "ogee" curve. The curving shaped gable was an architectural feature that was widely employed by German and Flemish designers int he 16th and 17th centuries to distinguish the homes and commercial buildings of wealthy burghers and merchants.
The dormers that project from the roof of Milwaukee's City Hall, built in 1892 at 200 E. Wells St., have similarly shaped ogee gables that could have inspired the design for the Cohen building. Coincidentally, ogee-shaped gables are also prominent features of one of the city's newest downtown skyscrapers, completed in 1989 at 100 E. Wisconsin Ave. It was designed to pay homage to Milwaukee's heritage of German-inspired architecture.
When Jacob Cohen moved into this building, his business was called the Electric Shoe Repair Shop. Over the years, however, he gradually shifted the focus of his business to selling shoes instead of repairing them. He had opened his first shoe repair business in 1908 nearby at 2022 W. National Ave. when he was 29 years old.
Jacob Cohen and his wife, Clara, were both immigrants from Czarist Russia who listed their mother tongue as Jewish in the 1920 Milwaukee County census. He came to America in 1895 at the age of 16, and Clara had arrived nine years earlier in 1886. Until 1922 they lived with their six children in the second floor of shopkeeper's flat above their shoe store. In 1923 the family moved to a house at 2171 N. 40th St. on the city's West Side. In 1924 Cohen moved his store down the block to 2134 W. National Ave., and a grocer, Mrs. Louis Kadlec, then moved into Cohen's former shoe store.
The designer of the building, Arthur Seidenschwartz, was a southsider who lived nearby at 736 S. 23rd St. He started his career around 1905 as a machinist before becoming a draftsman by 1908 and a registered architect in 1919. The Cohen Building is a fine example of his early design work and an excellent contribution to the city's stock of ethnic architecture." MILWAUKEE ETHNIC COMMERCIAL AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS TOUR, CITY OF MILWAUKEE DEPARTMENT OF CITY DEVELOPMENT, SEPTEMBER 1994.
Resurveyed in 2021 by UWM-CRM. This two story German Renaissance Revival style store was built in 1911 for shoemaker Jacob Cohen and designed by architect Arthur Seidenschwartz. The building is clad in orange brick and has stone sills, lintels, and trim. The first story has three elliptical arched openings. The entry door is recessed behind one of these. The other two arched openings have modern aluminum framed windows and bulkheads. Based on differences in brick color and bond patterns, it seems likely that the elliptical storefront facade and sign band areas are not original to 1911. The second story contains two pairs of one-over-one double hung windows. A pair of smaller double hung windows is located in the gable; this opening is capped with a blind elliptical arch. The primary feature of the facade is the elaborate Flemish gable with a painted metal cornice, large globe finials, and a cornice topped with broken pediment. |
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