Alexander Mitchell House
900 W. Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Second Empiire mansion on Milwaukee's near west side
Description
Alexander Mitchell was born in Scotland in 1817 and came to the United States in 1839. He entered the banking industry and founded Milwaukee's Marine Bank. He served two terms in congress, was the president of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad. He built the Mitchell Building and the adjacent Mackie Building in downtown Milwaukee. The Mackie Building is noted for the beautiful Grain Exchange room that was once the center of the grain industry in the United States.In 1848, Mitchell bought the land on Grand Avenue (now Wisconsin Avenue)to build his home. With expanding wealth, he bought up the rest of the land on the entire block and in 1859 and and 1872 added on to the house and changed the styling. He hired prominent Milwaukee architect Edward Townsend Mix to update the house to its current Second Empire style, adding the mansard roof and distinctive tower. The entire block is surrounded by an iron fence supported by limestone posts. An enormous, pagoda style summer house, named Belvedere, graces the property.
Mitchell passed away in 1887 and the house stood empty until 1895 when it was purchased by a social club for affluent German-American businessmen called the Deutcher Club. During the World War (WWI) with increasing anti-German sentiment, the club changed its name to the Wisconsin Club, which still owns and operates the club in the Mitchell Estate.
Sources
- J.R. Manning - thekitchenguy [at] sbcglobal [dot] net
- Wisconsin Historical Society - Alexander Mitchell House page
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