Property Record
1112-1114 W LINCOLN AVE
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | FRANK BZDAWKA BUILDING |
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| Other Name: | Universal Upholstery Service |
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| Reference Number: | 26946 |
| Location (Address): | 1112-1114 W LINCOLN AVE |
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| County: | Milwaukee |
| City: | Milwaukee |
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| Year Built: | 1919 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 1993 |
| Historic Use: | large retail building |
| Architectural Style: | German Renaissance Revival |
| Structural System: | Masonry |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
| Architect: | Stanley Kadow (attributed) |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| 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: | Locally Designated 4/7/2017 Some of Milwaukee's best examples of Polish-influenced commercial architecture line this stretch of West Lincoln Avenue. This commercial district developed during the early twentieth century to serve the South Side's burgeoning Polish-American community. Many structures here feature lively, curvilinear gables, distinct from their angular Victorian neighbors. The distinctive curves recall the scrolled gables of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Polish townhouses. The most elaborate gables top the former Frank Bzdawka Butcher Shop, completed in 1919. The compound scrolls and steps outlined with a rolled sheet-metal cornice add a deep shadow line and drama to this plain store building. The building’s street-level storefront retains its original appearance. "This is one of the handsomest commercial buildings on Lincoln Avenue with its boldly profiled combination of steps and curves in the gable end, punctuated by a large keystone at the crest of the facade. Bzdawka, the son of Polish immigrants, took over a butcher shop run by Constanin Czarnecki on this site in 1910 and replaced the original, simple, wood frame building with the present brick one in 1919. The Bzdawka family lived in the upstairs flat. After Frank Bzdawka died at the age of 64 in 1944, the family continued to operate the meat market here through the 1960s. The street level storefront portion of the building is one of the few in the neighborhood to retain its original appearance." MILWAUKEE ETHNIC COMMERCIAL AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS TOUR, CITY OF MILWAUKEE DEPARTMENT OF CITY DEVELOPMENT, SEPTEMBER 1994. |
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| Bibliographic References: | Previously Surveyed by G. Hunton on 7-16-79; he cites the Tax Program. MILWAUKEE ETHNIC COMMERCIAL AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS TOUR, CITY OF MILWAUKEE DEPARTMENT OF CITY DEVELOPMENT, SEPTEMBER 1994. Buildings of Wisconsin manuscript. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |