#4 Milwaukee Historic Preservation

The very first house I looked at in the beginning of my search, back when I wasn't really sure this is what I wanted to be doing, was on Brewer's Hill. The house was way too small for my needs, my living room furniture would never have fit into it. And my living room furniture isn't all that much, it fits nicely into 15 x 8 feet. And then there was the dining room issue, there was none. But I was new to the idea of remodeling. I thought I'd just throw on a couple, 3, 4 thousand square feet and call it a day. It had a great back yard and the neighborhood was nice. It was a half block from a spectacular view of the downtown. The lot, a double, could have accommodated an additional structure.

In fact, there had most likely been another house exactly like it right there. The houses lining the street are perfect Monopoly-house-shaped. They mostly lack garages and my thought was to build a garage that looked like the house itself (and all the other houses) with a custom made door that hid the fact that it was actually a garage, even putting a fake front door if that's what it needed. I can be sensitive to the needs of history, or people who care to inflict their idea of it on the world. As luck would have it the Milwaukee Historic Preservation Stick-Up-Their-Asses Club wasn't having any of it. Instead, to preserve the historic nature of Brewer's Hill, where a good deal of the homes are boarded up ramshackle old wooden frame houses they wanted me to put the garage in the back of the house where no one could be offended by having to see it. Never mind that it would take up most of the back yard and pave whatever was left of the yard for a driveway.

In my second viewing, with the seller's real estate agent present, I suggested I would be offering less than her asking price. The agent snapped, "she's already losing money as it is." Welcome to the club honey. I was/am going to be taking a 100K loss, myself. I wasn't sympathetic. I didn't make an offer.

The house sold but I noticed that the side yard is still a paved parking spot. So at least it still conforms to historical standards. Looks just like it did back in the day, I guess.