Monday, August 14, 2017

My Artistic Heritage

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I decided to see if I could find any photos of my maternal grandpa August G Wolff online this morning. I post often with pictures from the paternal ancestors.
I didn’t find any photos of him but I did find this photo of a house he designed in 1922. It is in the South Layton Boulevard Historic District. The address is 1959 S Layton Blvd. I t is a Milwaukee address. The original cost of the house was $5500 which I would think was a lot in 1922 shortly after the end of WW1.
I am impressed with the design and all the details of the house. I see more details each time I look like it. That is also a trait of a great quilt!
The historic name is:
FRANK J. SURGES HOUSE It was added to the historic records in 1996.
I found this information on another site about the homes built on Layton Boulevard:
The city's construction boom after World War I stimulated house building on Layton Boulevard, and between 1918 and 1928 some 107 buildings were erected with 32 of these constructed in 1921 and 19 in 1922

He lived with our family off and on when I was growing up but I wasn’t familiar with his work for the most part.
One thing I do remember is that he drew his plans for his buildings on a stiff linen. When he was done with them he gave them to my mother and she washed out the stiffness in her Bendix front loading washing machine that she bought when I was born and made handkerchiefs with them.


1 comment:

Susie Q said...

Now that is a GREAT tale.... Google photo of the house now and in 2009 shows no changes are well. Sign of a well made house.