In what seems fairly common these days, a 1905 home on Lake Drive has a pending offer even before it was even shared by the realtors.
The seven-bedroom, 3.5-bath, 5,725-square-foot Georgian Revival home at 2242 N. Lake Dr. was priced at just $499,000, which seems like a steal.
Seeing this post with photos online made me wonder about this house:
You can see the full listing with info and many photos here.
Designed by architects Max Fernekes and Edwin C. Cramer, the home was built by two Racine sisters, Frances and Alida Durand.
Their father Henry Smith Durand arrived in Racine from Connecticut around 1843 and became rich in the coal and lumber businesses (he owned timber forests in Michigan) as well as a fleet of five ships, according to Shirley du Fresne McArthur’s “North Point Historic Districts – Milwaukee.”
Racine's Durand Avenue is named for him. The 1858 Durand house, where Frances and Alida likely spent their childhoods, remains today as a Racine landmark.
The elder Durand also thrived in insurance, running more than 100 Home Insurance Company agencies in the region. He also helped his brother Loyal get set up in insurance in Milwaukee.
Frances, born in 1850, was an early graduate of Vassar College, founded in 1861 in Poughkeepsie, New York and she later taught there, too.
Alida, six years younger than Frances, also attended and graduated from Vassar.
In 1882, she returned to Racine and married attorney William C. White and they moved to Duluth, where White – according to du Fresne McArthur – was “among the discoverers of the Mesabi iron ore range,” a fact I couldn’t verify.
But that’s what made them rich, apparently, and allowed White to retire young.
The Whites and Frances Durand (the latter having previously lived on Pleasant Street) all landed in Milwaukee and in late November 1904 the Journal reported that, “Miss F. E. Durand and Mrs. W. C. White are building a $12,000 residence on Lake Drive near Ivanhoe Place.”
That place is the Georgian Revival house that at 2242 N. Lake Dr. (interestingly, a block north of where their cousin – attorney and insurance man Loyal Durand, Jr. – would also build a Georgian-inspired house the following year).
It was constructed by carpenter John Debbink and mason Paul Riesen.
The Durand-Whites dedicated themselves to philanthropy – they were active in things like the Milwaukee Orchestral Association, which organized Milwaukee concerts by the Chicago Symphony – and hosting tea parties until 1922, when the three sold the house to Mr. and Mrs. Arthur W. Fairchild.
The trio planned to spend summers in Deerwood, Minnesota, where they’d summered since at least 1913 and winters in Tryon, North Carolina, where they built a “bungalow.”
Fairchild was an attorney, who had been at the firm of Fairchild, Foley & Sammons since 1901. At the time of his death in 1956, the firm (which had undergone other name changes during that time) was Wisconsin’s oldest and largest law firm. It survives today as Foley and Lardner.
Fairchild’s wife Edith (nee Hansen) and their children remained in the home a few more years before listing it for sale in 1960.
From 1960 to 1990 the house was owned by Dr. Merion J Johnson Ph.D., who was a voice professor in the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee music department – and whose students called him "The Good Guy" – and his wife Brigitte, a long time MPS teacher.
Born in Lemmon, South Dakota, and a graduate of Mankato State Teachers College, he taught in schools in Minnesota before getting his master's degree at the University of Kansas City (he later earned a doctorate at Indiana University) and arriving in Milwaukee in 1948.
Johnson drive a tank during World War II until the army realized his training and moved him into music, which allowed him to study at some music schools in Europe.
He also served as music director at Plymouth Congregational Church on the East Side.
Merion died in 1969 and Brigette passed away in 2010.
Since 1990, the home has been owned by Johnson's stepson, John F. Scott.
That sentence may also explain the surprisingly low asking price for this kind of home in the North Point South Historic District.
While it has beautiful details – like leaded glass windows, a regal main hall and staircase, exposed beam ceilings, built-in bookcases, working fireplaces, hardwood floors, crown moldings, a pantry with built-in shelves and what appears to be an original icebox – it also appears to be in need of some work.
But it sure looks like it’s still got all the bones and details in place and can be put back to its original glory.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
