About Your Hosts
Scott and Noreena love to travel and have been hosts since 2007. They enjoy bringing pieces of local history into the places they rent. As a designer, Noreena strives to bring all of the comforts of home along with classic design elements and a touch of personality to each unit. Scott was brought up in a handyman’s home and has fully renovated or flipped three full homes, as well as the three featured Knickerbocker units. Creating spaces that resonate with a unique vibe and being of service are at the heart of what Scott and Noreena bring to the experience. They are always at the ready to help make your stay as comfortable and memorable as possible.
Why Sleepy Cat MKE?
The name Sleepy Cat MKE pays homage to all of the cats who have touched our lives with unconditional love. They include Cazaqua, Cleo, Carrissa, George and Kato, pictured at left crashing a Cream City Garden wedding. Each put whiskers on our hearts. There is nothing more content and comforting than a cat purring on your chest or basking in a ray of sun. They’ve taught us to slow down and savor each of life’s moments. We hope you do the same and find contentment during your stay.
Our First Sleepy Cat Property
Restoration of an 1875 Corner Store and Flat
Just like a stray cat might show up at a random door in hope of finding shelter, food and perhaps a forever home, we found ourselves standing on the doorstep of this abandoned building wide eyed with possibilities. This ragged old building in the National Historic District of Walker’s Point had indeed seen better days and was slated for demolition. However, we knew in our hearts that with “a little love” it could be saved and become the perfect live-work space we were seeking to call home.
The fact that it had experienced many lives and looked tattered didn’t scare us away. The building had good bones and we saw its hidden potential. We were determined to make it our new home and reinstate its prominent place again on 5th St in Historic Walker’s Point, originally one of the very first neighborhoods to be settled in what would eventually become Milwaukee.
After four years of designing, planning, waiting for plan approvals, demo and some heavy construction, we finally made this building our home in 2003. During that time we, also, put a lot of effort into landscaping the double lot adjacent to the house. Over time it evolved into our “secret garden in the city”, complete with a few chickens, a couple beehives, a koi pond and our beloved gray tabby cats.
In 2016 we converted a studio apartment we had built above a new garage into our very first Airbnb. We called it The Clock Tower, as a tribute to the Allen Bradley / Rockwell Clock Tower that shines its big clock face over the neighborhood and Milwaukee day and night. The lower level of the building continues to serve as Scott’s photo studio, as well as a gallery where we have hosted art exhibitions and events. And upstairs we reside happily with our cats. This building has a rich history of serving the neighborhood and we are honored to be stewards of this place and to be a gathering place for community events, artists and couples looking to start their married lives with an intimate ceremony in our secret garden.
Looking back, Carl and Maria Glaus had the building constructed in 1875 to act both as Carl’s storefront, and their daughter’s home with her new husband living upstairs (Ernst and Wilhelmina Klingbeil). After Wilhelmina’s passing, her three (adult) children sold the building to Clarence Osten who operated his grocery store downstairs and raised his family upstairs until 1970 when they moved. The storefront remained mostly vacant and the building passed through two more owners until Scott and Noreena purchased it in 1999. “It’s been a labor of love and stewardship ever since preserving this historic part of Milwaukee’s past.”