Property Record
501-503 W LINCOLN AVE
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | HENRY F. CZERWINSKI BUILDING / K. Fenning - 1893 |
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| Other Name: | DOCTORS' DENTURE SYSTEMS |
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| Reference Number: | 31829 |
| Location (Address): | 501-503 W LINCOLN AVE |
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| County: | Milwaukee |
| City: | Milwaukee |
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| Year Built: | 1893 |
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| Additions: | 1920 |
| Survey Date: | 1993 |
| Historic Use: | small retail building |
| Architectural Style: | German Renaissance Revival |
| Structural System: | Masonry |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
| Architect: | WOJDA BROS. |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
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| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | Wodja Bros. was the builder. Brick store building important to the archtiectural character of W. Lincoln Avenue, a commercial corridor. 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. Among the district's many interesting buildings, several merit individual mention. The Henry Czerwinski Building anchors the district’s east end. Completed in 1920, it was one of the last scrolled-gable commercial buildings constructed in the city. "This handsome brick building replaced a livery stable on the site and was constructed to house Henry F. Czerwinski's pharmacy. Czerwinski had previously worked as a clerk in drug stores owned by others before opening up his own business. His family lived nearby at 575 W. Lincoln Ave. in another shaped-gable building built by his immigrant father, Barney Czerwinski, in 1912. Other early tenants of the Czerwinski Building were Dr. Robert P. Bergwall, a physician, and Dr. Robert E. Dunbar, a dentist. The building remained in use as a drug store into the mid-1960s." MILWAUKEE ETHNIC COMMERCIAL AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS TOUR, CITY OF MILWAUKEE DEPARTMENT OF CITY DEVELOPMENT, SEPTEMBER 1994. |
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| Bibliographic References: | MILWAUKEE ETHNIC COMMERCIAL AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS TOUR, CITY OF MILWAUKEE DEPARTMENT OF CITY DEVELOPMENT, SEPTEMBER 1994. Permit. Buildings of Wisconsin manuscript. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |