| Additional Information: | PROPERTY TYPE IS KNOWN AS A POLISH FLAT.
"Milwaukee tax rolls show that this simple, but well-preserved, example of a Polish flat was built in 1907. Physical evidence suggests that the other houses on this block once resembled. No. 2449 and were probably built by the same contractor. The installation of vinyl and aluminum siding and alterations to the windows, doors and porches have now obscured their original appearance. The Michalski House's clapboard siding, shingled gable end, columned porch and 3-part parlor window show the house was built during the transition from the Queen Anne to the Colonial Revival style and illustrates that even modest worker's cottages reflected the architectural design trends of their era. This Polish flat was built with a raised basement as part of the original design. The house is unusual in that it has a wood basement wall, rather than brick on concrete block, with the clapboarding extending down the side walls right to the ground level.
This modest cottage was first occupied by the Michalski family whose members included Rose, Andrew, Anton, Mary and Stanley. Rose, the matriarch of the family, was a 57-year-old widow when she moved to this house from South 7th Street. Stanley, her 38-year-old son, lived with his mother and remained single all his life. He worked for the Chicago and North Western Railway. Andrew was 27 years of age and worked at various occupations ranging from a machinist to a blacksmith. He eventually moved next door to No. 2445. Anton worked as a stove monitor and mechanic, while Mary worked as a dressmaker. The lower flat may have always been used as a rental unit. Like many hard-working blue collar families on the south side, the Michalskis supplemented their earnings by raising chickens in the backyard, for which they built a large chicken coop in 1923. Anton moved away around 1923, as did Mary the following tear. Rose and her son Stanley continued to occupy this house until mid-1930s when they moved in next door with Anton. Stanley died in 1935 at the age of 65, and his mother, Rose, died in 1938 at the age of 88. The city's building permit records indicate that Michalski descendants used this Polish flat as income property into the 1980s." MILWAUKEE ETHNIC HOUSES TOUR, CITY OF MILWAUKEE DEPARTMENT OF DEVELOPMENT, 1994. |
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