Our Corner of the World

Operating an Airbnb was never the initial intent when we restored our building, but it became a great way to share our historic building with the world. Shortly after we got married, Noreena and I started looking for a new home where I could have a live-work space, Noreena could have a garden, and where we would be conveniently located near city amenities. When we first found our corner store in Walker’s Point, it left much to be desired. But as they say in the building restoration community, it had good bones.

Our home was first built in 1875 by Carl and Maria Glaus. They were Prussian immigrants living in a house they built in what is now the garden of our property. We believe the structure was partially build for their daughter Wilhelmina who was married the year before and then listed the address as her residence, with husband Ernst Klingbeil, the following year. Initially Carl ran his flour and feed business from the first floor, later he and Ernst were listed as store operators of different businesses on the first floor. Carl and Maria died in 1899 and 1902 respectively. Ernst and Wilhelmina rented the house and a storefront built to the front of the house following her parents’ deaths. By 1912 Ernst, Wilhelmina and their three children were no longer living in the building but they maintained ownership. A William Schiek opened his grocery store in the first floor of the building in 1923 and continued operating there until 1946. Ernst died in 1924 and Wilhelmina in 1938. It wasn’t until 1947 that the building was finally sold to Clarence Osten because for years, the oldest son, Arthur Klingbeil, could not be found to legally sell this final family asset of his mother.

The Ostens operated an Associated Grocers store in the first floor from 1947 until 1970. They raised their family of two children upstairs. I had the good fortune to meet with the children, Clarence Jr. and Joyce, to ask what life was like like living and working in our building. They also shared family photos and an original shopping basket customers would have used while shopping. When looking back, we have to remember, these places operated in the days before electric refrigeration and interstate highways. People would shop almost daily and at places where they could walk. This is why you see corner clusters of stores in old neighborhoods. Our building too, didn’t get inside plumbing until well after it was built and still had its original gas pipes for lighting and old insulators from the knob and tube wiring that would have also been installed after original building construction.

After the Ostens sold and moved out, the storefront was mostly vacant. This was also a couple years after the Interstate was built, cutting through and destroying much of neighborhood just across the street from our building. Urban flight was also taking place at this time and old neighborhoods like ours saw great decline. But all was not lost. In 1966, the National Preservation Act was passed to provide for help for people wishing to preserve historic structures in the United States. A grant led to the formation of Historic Walker’s Point, Inc. in 1973 and the designation of the neighborhood a National Historic District in 1978. This designation allowed the use of historic tax credits to help people restore and reuse old buildings within the district.

When we first came across our building in 1999, it was a site for very sore eyes. Nearly all of our friends looked at us like we really had gone crazy. We knew from the beginning that the tax credits were available to us and we had an architect friend who had done other National Park Service approved restoration projects ready to help. We both loved history and preservation, and my dad and I had watched enough This Old House to know we could save this one. It took us a couple of years to clean up the place, begin designing our dream home, get our plans approved by the State Historical Society, who administered the program, get financing, get permits, and begin the work. Major construction started in the fall of 2002. By the summer of 2003 we were able to move in upstairs and in 2004 my business got its occupancy permit for the downstairs. The process of maintaining an historic building never ends though.

Part of the rehabilitation of the building was the adding of a garage to the back. To make the garage more period looking, like an old coach house, we made it two stories with the intent of putting a rental suite above. The completion of the rental unit took place in 2006. In August of 2016 we were cleaning the rental unit in anticipation of our first Airbnb guest. That afternoon a storm rolled through, we saw the flash, heard the crash, and lost power. I went up to the front of our house to check the breaker box and when I looked out the front window I saw a crowd gathered in front of our building. I asked what was happening and they said we had been struck by lightning. I ran up into the attic with a fire extinguisher, I was too late to do anything. We couldn’t find our cats so Noreena and I ran outside. It started raining and neighbors hosted us in their storefront while we waiting for the fire department. It was a trying few minutes not knowing what would happen to our house. Fortunately, old wood burns slowly. The fire department contained the fire to the attic but the water they needed soaked more than 2/3 of our house. The lightning fried our electrical system so we were without a functioning home. We found our three cats, one under the sofa and two in the basement. We packed up what we could and went to stay with my parents while we rebuilt.

The rebuilding process did not go well in that we had a contractor that walked off the job with our insurance money and we had to refinance the building to complete the reconstruction and sue the contractor. We did rebuild and reopened late in 2017. There were still small projects to complete but we were so happy to be back home. Of course business took another hit with COVID in 2020 but that lead to even more people wanting private places to stay when travel came back. And with many large weddings being cancelled, we saw a boom in small garden weddings which we were able to host and bring a little joy back to ourselves as well as our clients. Since reopening we’ve hosted over 600 guests and earned a 4.9 star rating with Airbnb. In 2025 we’ll celebrate the 150th anniversary of our building. It’s been on quite a ride and we hope you can add to our history by staying on your next trip to Milwaukee.