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Property Record

821 S 3RD ST

Historic Name:
EMIL DURR HOUSE
Other Name:
Reference Number:
16428

Property Location

Location (Address) 821 S 3RD ST
County Milwaukee
City/Village Milwaukee
Township
Unincorporated community
Town
Range
Direction
Section
Quarter Section
Quarter Quarter Section

Property Features

Year Built 1875
Additions
Survey Date 1988,1973
Historic Use house
Architectural Style Italianate
Structural System Balloon Frame
Wall Material Asphalt
Architect
Other Buildings On Site
Demolished No
Demolished Date
Additional Comments Builder was John Rugee. This two story house is designed in the High Victorian Italianate style. Construction elements include a rectangular shaped plan configuration, a limestone foundation, an asphalt sided exterior, a wood trim and an asphalt shingled truncated hip roof. The residence is in good condition.

1973: "As the authors of Walker's Point: Two Walking Tours point out, Emil Durr was a very successful businessman: "One firm in which he had an interest was U. S. Gypsum, and he became the company's first treasurer. Another was the German-American Bank, in which he was the first president." Located on a large lot, his frame house was one of the more elaborate erected on the former Hanover Street (now Third Street) in the 1870s. And though the exterior has been altered over the years, the interior is said to retain much of its original ornament and character. Finally, the Durr house is southernmost in a trio of fine old homes all dating back from 1870-1875, at the southwest corner of South Third Street and West National Avenue.

Alterations and Additions (as of 1973):
the present siding was installed in 1944 and, presumably, at the same time some of some of the original exterior ornament was removed. On the interior, partitions on the second floor have been reset, and at least one wall has been built on the first floor. Nonetheless, portions of the original first story interior remain."

A Guide to Historic Walker's Point, 1978: "Emil Durr, part owner of a prosperous lumber company, built this frame house on an empty lot for $5,500. A native Milwaukeean of German extraction, he lived here with his wife, a native of East Troy, New York until his death in 1915. Durr served as alderman, park commissioner, and in 1872 first president of the newly-formed German-American Bank at First and National."

The house originally was highly ornamented, with decorated windows hoods and iron cresting, in an ornate, Italianate style.
Bibliographic References A. Milwaukee Sentinel. B. BUILT IN MILWAUKEE, LANDSCAPE RESEARCH, P. 174. C. MILWAUKEE HISTORIC BUILDINGS TOUR: WALKER'S POINT (RESIDENTIAL), CITY OF MILWAUKEE DEPARTMENT OF CITY DEVELOPMENT, 1994. National Register Nomination Form. Bell, Anna Laura, "Emil Durr House", Walker's Point Preservation District Inventory prepared for Land Ethics, Inc., Milwaukee, 1970, and sources cited. Palmer, Virginia A. and Wietczykowski, Mary Ellen, Walker's Point: Two Walking tours, Milwaukee, 1972, 27, 29. Historic Walker's Point, Inc., A Guide to Historic Walker's Point, 1978.

National And State Register Of Historic Places Listings

National/State Register Listing Name Walker's Point Historic District
National Register Listing Date Dec 19, 1978
State Register Listing Date Jan 01, 1989
Contributing Yes
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