Property Record
2202 W GREENFIELD AVE
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Arthur Tess Service Station |
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| Other Name: | Day's Service Station |
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| Reference Number: | 230083 |
| Location (Address): | 2202 W GREENFIELD AVE |
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| County: | Milwaukee |
| City: | Milwaukee |
| Township/Village: | |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
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| Year Built: | 1928 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 2015 |
| Historic Use: | gas station/service station |
| Architectural Style: | Astylistic Utilitarian Building |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
| Architect: | |
| Other Buildings On Site: | N |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| National Register Listing Date: | |
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| Additional Information: | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, State Historic Preservation Office. House-with-Canopy type of gas station. 2015- "Rising one-story and built with brick, this house-with-canopy type former gas station is topped with a hipped roof. The canopy is suppmted by a pair of brick piers and is canted in orientation to the W. Greenfield Avenue-S. 22nd Street intersection. The main entrance is located underneath the canopy and is flanked by plate-glass windows. A third plate glass window is located on the southwest facade . A service station wing at the rear is clad with stucco and is pierced by a single garage door. A restroom doorway on the northeast elevation is infilled. Architectural detail is limited to a plain, wooden cornice. Sanborn maps and city directories indicate that Arthur Tess opened this gas station in 1928. Tess was born in 1897 in Wisconsin and worked as a mechanic before opening his service station. Active in business affairs, he was an officer in the Retail Gasoline Dealers Association and a board member of the Greenfield Avenue Advancement Association in the 1940s and 1950s. Tess operated the station until his death in 1962. By 1964, the business was known as Day’s Service Station. The house-with-canopy type of gas station emerged in the 1920s in order for service stations to blend in with a residential area. Eventually, oil companies fielded standard designs of these types of stations as part of their marketing." - "W. Greenfield Ave, S 35th St (west) to S. Cesar Chavez Dr (east)", WISDot #2230-00-04, Prepared by Heritage Research, Ltd. (Faltinson), (2015). |
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| Bibliographic References: | City Directories and Sanborn Maps “Hold Gasoline Tax Need No Increase,” Milwaukee Journal, 11 January 1949; 12 “Greenfield Unit Installation Set,” Milwaukee Sentinel, 1 January 1957, Part 2, Page 10 |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |