The Wauwatosa Woman’s Club has announced that its annual Holiday Home Tour fundraiser is set for Saturday. Dec. 7 when, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., visitors can check out four homes and the WWC’s 1925 Georgian clubhouse.
Here are the featured buildings, with descriptions from WCC, which was founded in 1894. (Residential addresses will provided to attendees on the day of the tour, for privacy reasons):
McAvoy Home
This charming Queen Anne-style home has had only three owners since it was built in 1904. Originally a three-bedroom, one-bath home, in the 1960s, the second owner added a family room, powder room, two bedrooms and an attached garage. Since the McAvoys bought the home in 2013, every room in the house has been updated. In keeping with the traditional style of the home, they have added vintage and modern touches throughout.
St. Martin Home
Built in 1927, this home is considered English Tudor Revival style. The St. Martin family has made extensive repairs and enhancements to the home, including sunken ceilings and new windows throughout the house to the match the original leaded glass style. Both new and antique light fixtures were hung throughout. The St. Martins have been living there for nine years with their protector, a 100-pound white shepherd dog.
Janisch/Schertz Home
This English revival home was designed and built in 1926 for Charles and Maude Gilman by their son-in-law, Milwaukee architect Arthur Runzler. The home remained in the Gilman family until 1979. When the Janisch/Schertz family became the third owners in 2013, they found original woodwork, light fixtures, hardwood floors and leaded glass. One bathroom has its original tile, tub and commode. They decorate the home year-round and for the holidays in a colorful and eclectic style using almost exclusively thrifted finds.
Saso Home
This home was purchased in 1902 by Charles Hayward Godfrey, a member of the family that founded the famed Wisconsin grocery company, E.R. Godfrey & Sons, which operated Sentry food stores for many years. The Sasos purchased the home in 2015 and have painstakingly restored it. They refinished the woodwork and preserved the stained-glass windows in the main stairwell and dining room, which now features an 1893 wallpaper design by William Morris, “The Strawberry Thief.” The Sasos turned the original nursery into a second bathroom to accompany the three bedrooms.
Wauwatosa Woman’s Club
The 1925 Georgian Revival clubhouse at 1626 Wauwatosa Ave. was designed by Milwaukee’s Kirchhoff & Rose, which was the firm that designed many buildings for Schlitz, including tied houses, the Uihlein Mansion on Lake Drive and the Schlitz Palm Garden and Tivoli Palm Garden, as well as the Schuster’s store on King Drive and Garfield Avenue and the Palace Theater in New York’s Times Square, among others.
It will be open for tours and will host a giant bake sale with holiday-themed cookies, bars, pies, cakes, cupcakes, candies, and novelty treats to suit all tastes during the event.
Attendees can also tour the Wauwatosa Historical Society’s 1890 Queen Anne-style Kneeland-Walker House, 7406 Hillcrest Dr., which features period décor and seasonal decorations.
Tickets are $35, and tickets can be purchased online at wauwatosawomansclub.org/holiday-tour-of-homes before Dec. 6 or in person at The Flower Lady, 1469 Underwood Ave. in the Village, and Swan Pharmacy, 9130 W. North Ave. Purchase tickets at the clubhouse on the event day.
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.
