| 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, Division of Historic Preservation-Public History.
POLYGONAL DOMED TURRET WITH CUPOLA ABOVE CORNER, ROUND ARCH ENTRANCE, CORBELLED CORNICE*, STONE LINTELS AND SILLS.
This High Victorian commercial building is made of cut Waukesha limestone and cream city brick, with a corner tower, stone lintels, corbelled brick detailing, and large plate glass windows. City landmark, 1977. The building was originally a hardware store established by John Dittmar. He was a blacksmith by trade. The building houses a hand-operated wooden freight elevator.
The John F. Dittmar Building, constructed in 1897, replaced Dittmar’s earlier blacksmith shop located on the same site. Located at the five-point intersection of Harwood Avenue, Underwood Avenue, and State Street, the Queen Anne style hardware store features cream city brick masonry construction and a hand-operated wooden freight elevator produced by Milwaukee’s Kiekhefer Elevator Company. While the architect is unknown, the masonry contractor was Fred Yahle. The first tenant of the Dittmar Building was the Smith’s Brother’s hardware store. The name changed to the Smith-Russel Company in 1902, the same year the upper floors became rental apartments. The upper floors had been previously occupied for a few years by the Wauwatosa Free and Accepted Masons and the Town Hall. A 25-foot addition, occupied by the Diedrich brother’s automobile repair shop, was constructed on the northwest side of the building in 1910. The same year, the name of the store was changed to the Wauwatosa Hardware Store. In 1918, the hardware store was purchased by James Robertson, who formed a partnership with his sons to establish the Robertson Hardware Company. Eventually the store would become the Robertson Ace Hardware Store and remained a hardware store for most of the twentieth century. |
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| Bibliographic References: | Zimmerman, Heritage Guide.
Wauwatosa Cemetery Walking Tour brochure published by the Wauwatosa Historic Preservation Commission in 2001.
Wauwatosa Landmarks, Wauwatosa Landmark Commission 1994.
Wauwatosa Public Library general history files.
Wauwatosa City Directories, 1926-1992, on file at the Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison.
Wauwatosa Historical Society general files.
The Wauwatosa Story. Wauwatosa, WI: Wauwatosa Board of Education, 1961.
Wauwatosa Historical Society. Wauwatosa, Images of America. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2004. |
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