Home Tour Is a Walk Through Tosa History

On Saturday, six homes in the Beverly Hills neighborhood of Wauwatosa will be open to the public for the annual Tour of Homes benefiting the Wauwatosa Historical Society.

Traci Schnell, president of the society, said the one-day event is the culmination of a year’s work. She has been involved in choosing the homes and doing the research for more than 10 years.

“Every year, we choose a different neighborhood. We drive the streets and choose homes. Sometimes the homes represent different architectural styles, sometimes the home are of similar designs,” she said – like the 2009 tour of the Rockaway Brookside area that included five of the six homes designed by the same architect. 

Since its inception in 1989, the tour’s emphasis has been the historic architecture that is so plentiful in Wauwatosa. This year’s tour focus is the Beverly Hills area, was developed in 1923, originally dubbed the Country Club District.

The six homes are in an area roughly north of West North Avenue, south of West Center Street, east of Menomonee River Parkway and west of North 95th Street.

This year's tour, styled "Beverly Hills, 53226," includes:

• 2346 Menonomonee River Pkwy.
• 9556 Beverly Pl.
• 9634 Harding Blvd.
• 9605 Wilson Blvd.
• 2484 N. 96th St.
• 2516 N. 96th St.

All the homes were built between 1930 and 1941. The home designs range from French Provincial and Mediterranean Revival to Colonial Revival and Tudor Revival. 

“The little Lannon stone home on North 96th Street is replicated all over the Milwaukee area. It’s everywhere,” she said. “Built as a low-cost home, this particularly home has a red tile roof giving it a Spanish Colonial influence.”

Every home, no matter the age, has a history. Schnell and volunteers at the historical society have played detective, painstakingly researching every home on the tour.

“You start with the building permits, check the daily reports, talk to owners – some homes have had five or six owners, some have had many more. These homes are young,” she said.

“Young” being a relative term in that many previous owners were still around to tell their stories.

“The Historical Society has a lot of information, too,” she said of the work of gathering each home’s history. Schnell, a architectural historian by profession, has written scripts for the docents staged at each home – up to eight per home on the tour – giving the history, previous owners of note and the architectural importance of each home. 

Every year, at least one home that has been on the tour since she has been involved has been the home of an inventor. “Some time in each (of those) home’s history, a resident has filed a patent,” she said.

One of the homes on this year’s tour is a 1937 three-story, French Provincial, Lannon stone home on Menomonee River Parkway owned by Ellie and Harry Schroeder. They have lived in the home since 1973.

“We were asked to be part of it this year,” Ellie said. “And it’s a good way to raise money for the Historical Society.”

The Schroeders are the home’s fourth owners. A prominent businessman, Frank Kubin, owned the home in 1951.

“Kubin was the owner of a printing company that continues to operate today – Kubin-Nicholson,” Schnell said.

The Schroeders have gutted and updated the kitchen and added a family room. “We done something to every floor and wall in the house,” she said. Many of the tour homes have been renovated or updated, but each history is still intact.

Schnell said the historical society starts looking for potential neighborhoods and homes soon after the current tour ends. And the process starts again by signing on homeowners to the idea of people – 800 during last year’s one-day tour – walking through their homes. 

For the duration of the one-day tour, the Schroeders will do exactly what other tour attendees are doing. “We will go and look at the other homes.” Ellie said.

The tour is a perfect opportunity to satisfy curiosity. Yes, these home have historic significance; however, countless passersby can’t help but wonder what’s inside these historic beauties. On Saturday, anyone with a ticket will find out.

Wauwatosa Historical Society 

2011 Tour of Homes

When: 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Saturday

Tickets: $14 advance of the tour day at: 

• Wisconsin Garden and Pet, 8524 W. North Ave.

• Little Read Book Store, 7603 W. State St.

Or online at wauwatosahistoricalsociety.org

Tickets can be purchased the day of the tour for $17 at 2324 N. Menomonee River Parkway.