Ever dreamed of living in a bit of Milwaukee neighborhood history? Well, a 1946 Milwaukee streetcar building on the West Side is now for sale.
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The red brick building, likely designed by architect Herman Esser for The Milwaukee Electric Railway & Light Co., is listed for $850,000.
You can see the complete listing here. The property was listed by The Collaboration Group with Compass RE WI-Northshore.
These facilities were erected all over the city of Milwaukee to distribute power for the elaborate streetcar system that used to ply the city’s streets.
Some of them have been given new uses, like one on North Avenue that is home to 20 Ton Studios, an artists’ studio.
That this one on went up on Lisbon in the post-war period of the mid-1940s on the edge of Lenox Heights makes perfect sense as that’s when nearby neighborhoods like Enderis Park, Cooper Park and Kops Park really began to be heavily developed and when streetcar lines would’ve really begun to ramp up to serve the growing population.
It was built with just four bays and was later expanded to the eight you see now.
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This building gained some attention a few years back when its owner perched a series of white statues atop the top of the building.
At 9,600 square feet, this is among the larger examples of these buildings. But not all of the space is livable. At least it didn’t seem so when I visited a few years ago.
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The upper floor had been converted into a large apartment, with a lofted space and there was a huge space up there that appeared to be mostly used for storage (and table tennis and drum practice), but could surely become living space.
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The home is listed as having one bedroom and one-and-a-half bathrooms on a half-acre lot, but there’s a lot of space on that upper level.
Underneath, however, on the first floor, much of the space was narrow and less apparently adaptable, and used for storage. However, some of it serves as a large, bright and airy entry with bike storage and laundry.
Out back is a large grassy patch and space for parking, all behind a fence.
You can find all the details of the place at the listing, along with a few dozen photos of the interior and exterior.
