The Florida and Third Industrial Historic District is a group of multistory industrial lofts built from 1891 to 1928 near the Soo Line rail-yard in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

, United States. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2008.

History

Contributing buildings in the district were constructed from 1891 to 1928. Much of the district is adjacent to the

Soo Line Railroad The Soo Line Railroad is the primary United States railroad subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway , one of seven U.S. Class I railroads, controlled through the Soo Line Corporation. Although it is named for the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sa ...

yard. Buildings include, roughly in the order built: * The Lindemann & Hoverson Company at 331 S. Third Street, built in 1891, is the oldest in the district. It was designed by

Otto Strack Otto Strack (died 1935) was an architect in the United States. Several buildings he designed are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Strack was born in Germany, where he learned carpentry, masonry and blacksmithing. Then he studie ...

in a style that is considered ''early

textile mill Textile Manufacturing or Textile Engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful goods ...

industrial loft'' - five stories, timber-framed, brick clad, with architectural decoration on the narrow street-facing side. Though the building is in a style used in textile mills, the first occupant, Lindemann & Hoverson, manufactured gas stoves. With * The Heinn Looseleaf Ledger Company at 326 W. Florida Street is another

industrial loft. This one was designed by

Carl L. Linde Carl L. Linde (May 21, 1864 – July 12, 1945) was an American architect based in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, particularly in Portland, Oregon. Several of his works are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Biograp ...

and built in 1894, five stories, brick-clad, with

Romanesque Revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...

styling, a corner turret, and a street-level storefront. It was built by

Pabst Pabst is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Adolf Pabst (1899–1990), American mineralogist and geologist *Daniel Pabst (1826–1910), American furniture maker *Frederick Pabst (1836–1904), American brewer *Georg Wilhelm ...

as a rental property. Heinn moved in during 1907 and manufactured loose leaf notebooks there for 50 years. * The Molitor Paper Box Company at 212 S. Third Street is a later building, considered a ''middle

industrial loft'' because of its broader front. Again, it is timber-framed and clad in brick, seven stories. It was designed by Horsch Construction and Engineering and built in 1904. * The Berger Bedding Company at 500 W. Florida Street is another industrial loft, designed by Buemming and Dick and built in 1907. It is six stories tall, with some pilasters decorated with Prairie Style stone capitals. * The George Ziegler Candy Co. at 408 W. Florida Street (pictured above) is another ''middle

industrial loft''. This one is seven stories, designed by Herman Paul Schnetzky and built by Concrete Contractors and the Northwest Tile Company, with its first section built in 1908. The style is a stripped-down Neoclassical, with brick

pilasters In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wall ...

and a simple

dentil A dentil (from Lat. ''dens'', a tooth) is a small block used as a repeating ornament in the bedmould of a cornice. Dentils are found in ancient Greek and Roman architecture, and also in later styles such as Neoclassical, Federal, Georgian Reviv ...

ated

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

. It has a concrete skeleton - probably one of the first such buildings in Milwaukee. * The Courteen Seed Company at 222 West Pittsburgh Avenue is an eleven-story building with a triangular footprint designed by Louis Barnett and James Record Co. of Minneapolis and built in 1913. It is considered a ''late

industrial loft'' because of its lack of ornament. (Again, that type doesn't mean it was a textile mill.) * The Teweles Seed Company at 222 S. Third Street consists of a 12-story tower built in 1918 with a 7-story warehouse added in 1927. They were designed by the Fraser Company, with a reinforced concrete frame and brick walls. * The Milwaukee Printing Company at 400 S. Fifth Street is a factory complex with its first section built in 1911 for the Milwaukee Printing Company. Another section was built for William H. Shinners & Company the same year. The large windows on these sections class the building as a ''daylight industrial loft''. Milprint Incorporated added a 7-story block in 1922 and another block in 1928.

References

{{reflist Geography of Milwaukee Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin National Register of Historic Places in Milwaukee