Historic Home Reflects Life in the Concordia Neighborhood Over the Years

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Photo by Timothy Czerniakowski

The Meissner House in the Historic Concordia neighborhood

The Meissner House in the Historic Concordia neighborhood

The Historic Concordia neighborhood, bordered by Wisconsin Avenue, Highland Avenue, 27th Street and 35th Street, retains many of the grand Victorian homes built by Milwaukee’s affluent population of the late 1800s. The Concordia homes contained symbols of prosperity such as mantled fireplaces, intricate plasterwork and servant’s quarters.

By World War II, most of the neighborhood’s wealthy residents had left. Many of the larger homes were converted into boarding houses or fell into the hands of neglectful absentee landlords. During the ‘80s, neighborhood residents dedicated to preserving these classic homes formed Historic Concordia Neighbors, Inc. (HCNI) and partnered with the City of Milwaukee's Office of Historic Preservation to repair and restore these properties.

Michael and Kristi Westcott are proud owners of a Victorian home in the Concordia neighborhood. It was built in 1897 by Moritz Meissner, a German-born Jewish shoe and boot retailer. The house is 5,000 square feet and occupies a double lot.

Michael was born and raised in Milwaukee and is an artist specializing in encaustic painting. Kristi was raised in Racine, and works in investment management for Northwestern Mutual. The couple had lived in Chicago and San Francisco before buying their Concordia neighborhood home in 2003.

Old Victorians

“We like the old Victorians, old architecture and the older neighborhoods,” Kristi says. “We’re urban people.” The Westcott’s son and daughter attended Milwaukee Public Schools.

A spacious front porch with cluster columns and scalloped pediments welcomes visitors to the Westcott home. Inside, off a spacious foyer, is an ornate staircase with three large stained-glass windows at the landing.

The home was turned into a boarding house in 1925. However, the Westcott’s home was spared the drastic modifications from which many homes-turned-boarding houses suffered. “It didn’t get bastardized after World War II,” Michael notes. “Owners of a lot of these big houses made little compact rooms so they could fit in as many people as they could.”

A line of individual doorbells on the foyer wall is a remnant from home’s former life as a boarding house. Off the foyer is their music room with a baby grand piano. The Westcotts believe it was once a ladies’ parlor, due to dainty embellishments in the plaster and fireplace tile. An adjoining room was likely the men’s smoking parlor, reflective of turn-of-the-century life when men and women separated at the end of the evening to socialize.

Comfortably Warm

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Photo by Timothy Czerniakowski

Meissner House mansion's restored interior

Meissner House mansion's restored interior.

The fireplace in the men’s parlor was converted to gas, and the Westcotts had the chimney rebuilt with a stainless-steel liner so the fireplace can burn safely and comfortably. Because it is located on an inside wall, it retains heat and keeps the area comfortably warm even in the dead of winter.

Michael’s paintings are displayed throughout the house, along with crosshatch art done by Kristi. Framed photos of the Westcott’s ancestors are displayed on a fireplace mantel. The Westcott’s raised their two children in the house, and they fostered and adopted many pets over the years. Their house was a popular gathering place for their kid’s friends.

The home features original hardwood floors, ornamental plaster and sliding pocket doors. There are also “gasoliers”—chandeliers that have gas-powered candles. Michael says there is a master cutoff safety switch in the basement just for the gasoliers.

Most renovations made by the Westcotts took place in the kitchen. They like to cook and entertain and needed a modern, functional space, yet one that honored the history of the house.

Exposed Brick

The kitchen had previously sported rickety haphazard cabinets with wainscot paneling. There was a half-bath that was separated from the kitchen by just a half-wall—another remnant of the boarding house days. “If someone walked into the kitchen, they could see somebody sitting on the toilet,” Michael remarks.

The Westcotts had the cabinets and half-bath removed and installed a powder room under the front staircase. They knocked down a kitchen wall and removed plaster from the chimney to expose the brick. They added a farm-style sink, stainless-steel appliances, black countertops and a tooled metal ceiling.

Their kitchen sink backsplash is a slab of marble they found in the basement and was likely from the original kitchen sink. The wood and glass kitchen cabinets they had custom-made were replicated from an old cabinet Michael had found in the garage. The Westcotts converted a dumbwaiter into a laundry chute. 

The second-floor bathroom has a clawfoot tub. There are four bedrooms on the second level. Two of the bedrooms are suite-style, each with an attached sitting area. There is an original junction box in the hallway that brought power to second and third floors. The Westcotts added a glass display door over the box.

Michael has his art studio on the third floor of the house.

Side Yard

Outside, a large side porch provides space for relaxation and entertaining. The side yard features a fountain surrounded by hostas, and a path the Westcotts installed for their dogs. The garage, once a horse barn, features an upper loft.

As their youngest child prepares for his first year of college, the Westcotts will be empty nesters and plan to tackle deferred maintenance such as painting and replacing the roof. Kristi notes it can be difficult to find contractors skilled in working with historic homes.

The Westcotts are members of HCNI and had taken part in annual home tours. Through their participation in a Spaces &Traces tour through Historic Milwaukee, they had received a roster of names of the souls that had passed through their house over the years, complied largely from telephone records. That, along with word-of-mouth accounts of the triumphs and tragedies that occurred within their house’s walls, gives them plenty of stories to share.