You don’t often hear the name of Milwaukee architect Fred Graf but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t well-known in his day. In fact, Graf designed many beautiful Milwaukee homes and one of them, a stunning Tudor Revival house at 2209 E. Kenilworth Pl. on the East Side, is now for sale.
The six-bedroom, three-bath home, covering 3,662 square feet across four floors was built in 1910 and is listed at $749,900. You can see a listing with a few dozen photos of the interior and exterior here.
The property is currently listed as "active with (an) offer" that's contingent.
Interestingly, the house is one of six on the block designed by Graf as investment properties for E. Eldred and Angellita Felthousen Magie, including 2200 (1902), 2206 (1903), 2212 (1902), 2216 (1904) and 2217 (1911), the latter of which is another gorgeous Tudor gem.
“A very fine representation of variations on the Tudor English period theme,” wrote Shirley du Fresne McArthur in her book, “North Point Historic Districts - Milwaukee."
“Despite an unequal design quality it would be difficult to devise a more picturesque grouping of material textures, roof, gable, bays, oriels, Tudor arches and pargeting.”
The National Register of Historic Places report for the neighborhood notes of Graf’s groupings that, “the distinction of these houses derives not so much from their individual designs as from the attention to the relation of the houses to each other, providing a varied but harmonious streetscape.”
Magie was born in Milwaukee to Jonathan Magie, who arrived in Milwaukee from New Jersey in 1848 and started a tailoring business on the southeast corner of Water and Wisconsin, and Almira Eldred.
The younger Magie – whose sister married into Chicago’s Armour family – went into the oil business with Edward Wadham in 1883, but that didn’t last long and while Magie ran his own eponymous wholesale oil business, Wadham went on to bigger success with his pagoda-style retail gas stations, which were later sold to Mobil.
The Magies lived up the street in a Graf-designed home at 2604 N. Terrace Ave., where they raised two children, Ethel and E. Eldred, before the family moved to New Rochelle, New York.
The then-adult children returned to Milwaukee in 1933 and ran the investment properties until they died.
McArthur noted that, “At a later date many of the homes west of Lake Drive on Kenilworth Place were also absorbed by the Magie and later managed by their children.”
That included four more Graf-designed houses on the 2100 block of East Kenilworth – at 2102, 2108, 2112 and 2118, all drawn in 1899 – that were built as investment properties for August and Ernest Conrad, whose Conrad Brothers business was involved in real estate and mortgages. (Can you tell that Graf was one of the most prolific architects in the North Point South neighborhood?)
These, however, are not Tudors – like some on the 2200 block, too – and Richard W. E. Perrin described them as, “simply Fred Graf’s interpretation of Neo-Classicism. Graf’s houses were generally of substantial construction, attesting to his beginning as a carpenter rather than a trained architect.”
Born in South Germantown, Wisconsin (one of seven hamlets in what is today the Village of Germantown), in 1859, Graf did indeed start out as a carpenter, but by the early 1880s had moved to Milwaukee and become a draughtsman in the office of respected architect James Douglas, himself a noteworthy designer of Milwaukee-area homes, including on the East Side.
In 1892, Graf set out on his own as an architect and in addition to homes and churches (like Christ Polish Baptist Church at 2009 S. 19th St., and Trinity Presbyterian Church at 2176 N. 39th St.), Graf designed other projects, too – notably the beautiful Richardsonian Romanesque Ozaukee County Courthouse in Port Washington – over the course of his 46-year career.
In 1936, he launched the Fred Graf Building Co. and after his death on April 27, 1938, his wife Cora and sons Fred Jr. and J. Herbert carried on the business in his name.
As for the home in question, here’s how the listing describes it:
“This Tudor masterpiece, designed by renowned local architect Frederick Graf, sits in Milwaukee's prestigious Water Tower District. Overflowing with character, this home boasts intricate woodwork, three fireplaces, and gorgeous natural wood floors. Spread across three levels plus a basement, it offers a rare amount of functionality for a home of its era, including several large walk-ins.The dining room, foyer, and stairway feature impressive beamed ceilings, while wood wainscoting graces the dining room, vestibule, and foyer. A butler's pantry and other incredible period features add charm and functionality. This is truly a one-of-a-kind home with unmatched detail and craftsmanship!”
I haven’t had the pleasure of visiting its interior, but the photos show incredible woodwork, striking staircases and balustrades, multiple fireplaces, hardwood floors, leaded glass windows and other period details, along with updated kitchen and bathrooms.
Outside there’s a wide porch and a patio out back. And just off the doorstep is everything Milwaukee’s East Side has to offer, from the lakefront to the Oriental to one of Milwaukee’s best public schools on Maryland Avenue.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
