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Property Location
Property Features
In 1884, a group of local Protestant women saw the need to provide care for homeless, yet "respectable" elderly people. The home quickly outgrew its rented building downtown, so construction began in 1891 on the new structure’s first stage on Downer Avenue.
Henry Koch styled the home on the stately châteaux of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century France, evident in its steeply pitched, highly detailed roof, towers and gables. The elaborate gable on the broad entrance pavilion, and its framing towers, are consistent with the style.
Its many additions over the years transformed the institution—or “château”—to resemble a fashionable resort hotel, with its long, rambling profile and long verandas. Koch designed a wing reaching north along Downer Avenue terminating in a front-facing gable, built in 1897. In 1926, local architects Fitzhugh Scott and MacDonald Mayer added a large south wing facade to create a more uniform Châteauesque appearance. Since World War II, four additions have been attached to the rear of the building.
National And State Register Of Historic Places Listings
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2449 N Downer Ave
100008987
Located in Milwaukee, Milwaukee County
4001 NORTH DOWNER AVENUE
150843
Located in Shorewood, Milwaukee County
