Winner Mansion

[Yance]

One of the hidden treasures of Milwaukee's near west side is the Gerhard Winner mansion which was finished in 1897. It was located on 26th & Wisconsin and can be seen in the Bing Maps view, hidden behind a commercial building which was added to it sometime in mid-century. Gerhard Winner was a successful liquor wholesaler in the city. The mansion was designed by well-known local architects Crane & Barkhausen and the building still has many interesting elements which can be seen from Wisconsin avenue.

[PJ Smith]

While there are other photos of "mansions" and other houses where a store was added onto the front of it such as Prospect Avenue, this must have been one of the major additions in Milwaukee!

What an odd thing to do to this residence, instead of constructing an entirely new building. I wonder what the inside of the house has in it now.

Was the stereo store Hi Fi Fo Fum in that addition?

The jingle went something like "Hi Fi Fo Fum, 26th and Wisconsinum" and there may have been a funny sign or even a billboard on top with cartoon like characters, but I don't remember it very clearly.

[PJ Smith]

I just peeked at the city assessor site and it shows that the 1897 built home has 12 apartments in it now, while the 1952 addition has commercial uses including a school in it.

[TManz]

Was the stereo store Hi Fi Fo Fum in that addition? The jingle went something like "Hi Fi Fo Fum, 26th and Wisconsinum" and there may have been a funny sign or even a billboard on top with cartoon like characters, but I don't remember it very clearly.

Yes - Hi Fi Fo Fum was in the front store in the 50s, 60s and maybe 70s. Their mascot-logo was an offbeat-looking cartoon character with huge ears (and maybe a beret?). A news archive search should turn up an old ad.

[TManz]

There is still a Hi Fi Fo Fum store in the St. Louis area, and the logo character is as I remember him.

[Yance]

I don't think I posted this before but here is the front of the building.

[Yance]

While there are other photos of "mansions" and other houses where a store was added onto the front of it such as Prospect Avenue, this must have been one of the major additions in Milwaukee!

What an odd thing to do to this residence, instead of constructing an entirely new building. I wonder what the inside of the house has in it now.

Surprisingly this kind of thing was common and you can see plenty of old houses that this was done to. Not too far away from this on 20th & Wisconsin is another old mansion with the same type of addition. I don't know the history of this building but will do some investigating to find out.

[just1paul]

What really surprises me is that it appears these rather large additions did not come as a result of "piece at a time" as in a business adding space and then expanding every couple of years. Could these additions that kept the house mostly intact been a way to get around some type of city ordinance, zoning or historic commission?

[aeroslipton]

I have been biking a lot to the West Side & taken pictures of the Winner mansion & other West side buildings. The second one shown on 20th was in a slide presentation I went to at the Pabst mansion about 3 years ago given by the head of the historical society (?). Some relative of a person who had grown up in that house presented him with an immaculate photo of the house when it was new( & un-grafted)


http://www.flickr.com/photos/95279085@N00/1429521843/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/95279085@N00/1430385837/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/95279085@N00/1443325205/

there is also a good photo of this on the Wisconsin Historical Society's photo page from the 40's before grafting.