Historic Mansions

Alfred Uihlein House, Milwaukee Wisconsin

Date added:November 29, 2009

Alfred Uihlein House, Milwaukee Wisconson

This excellent, late nineteenth-century mansion was built for an executive of the nearby Schlitz Brewing Co. and was at the time it was demolished one of the last surviving homes in the once affluent German residential area popularly known as Uihlein Hill. Alfred Eugene Uihlein, the mansion's first owner, left the house to his three surviving children, who donated it to the Archdiocese of Milwaukee in December, 1935. It became the property of the City of Milwaukee in 1970.

The original owner of this house was a prominent member of an illustrious Milwaukee family. Alfred E. Uihlein (1852-1935) came to the United States from Germany in 1867; and after working for a few years in breweries at St. Louis, Missouri, and Leavenworth, Kansas, he settled in Milwaukee, where he joined the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Co. One of Milwaukee's early breweries, this company was founded in the late 1840s by August Krug, Uihlein's uncle. On Krug's death in 1856 his business manager, Joseph Schlitz, took charge of the firm; and after Schlitz died nineteen years later, Alfred Uihlein and his brothers operated the brewery. Alfred served as superintendent until 1917, when he succeeded Henry Uihlein as president. Under the Uihleins' leadership Schlitz became one of the nation's leading breweries. (in 1969 it was the second largest brewer in the country.)

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Chalet Schell (Northfield Chateau), Northfield Massachusetts

Date added:January 07, 2010

Francis Robert Schell, a New York capitalist drawn to Northfield by an interest in its religious work, acquired 125 acres of land in the heart of town where he built his "castle." Completed in 1903 while the Schells were in Europe, the chateau contained 99 rooms and stood on a knoll at the highest elevation of the grounds overlooking the colonial village of Northfield. Apparently his wife was horrified when they returned and saw the mansion: She had always wanted a "rose-covered cottage in the country." Local residents who worked at the Northfield Inn, where Mrs. Schell lived, remember Mrs. Schell being asked about the castle. Her response was "I don't like it, and I never go near it." She insisted also that her room in the inn face away from the chateau.

After the death of Mr. Schell, the mansion became a burden upon his estate, fell into disrepair, and finally fell into the hands of the Northfield Hotel Company, which bought it for the land value and used it as an adjunct to its inn. It remained more ornamental than practicable, with its great rooms, its vast mirrors, its costly crystal chandeliers, it ramps, and its stairways objects of curiosity rather than utility. It was torn down in 1963.

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Chateau-sur-Mer Mansion (Wetmore House), Newport Rhode Island

Date added:July 28, 2010

"Chateau-sur-Mer", its lodge, entrance arch, and greenhouse were built in 1851-1852 by the Newport contractor Seth C. Bradford for William Shepard Wetmore, merchant in the China trade. His son, George Peabody Wetmore, greatly enlarged the house in successive major campaigns in the 1870s and 1880s under Richard Morris Hunt, with interior decoration by Luigi Frullini. Wetmore further developed the outbuildings and grounds. His daughters, Edith and Maude Wetmore, maintained the house in proper style until their deaths. The estate was sold at auction in 1969 to The Preservation Society of Newport County.

Initially in 1850, William S. Wetmore purchased several acres of the Gibbs land on Old Beach Road. It was reported in the Newport Mercury, October 25, 1850, that he intended to erect a house of Fall River granite, 150 feet by 72 feet, three stories high with, a long, two story wing. The drawing room was to be 24' x 43', the oval dining room, 22' x 36', the hall, 20' x 56', and another room 20' square. However, after a serious fire March 11, 1851, James Van Alen halted construction on the Bellevue Avenue brownstone house he had commissioned Seth C. Bradford to build. On July 25, 1851, William S. Wetmore purchased this property, the site of the present chateau, on which a stable had been completed. Shortly after the completion of the new Fall River granite house, William S. Wetmore gave a "fete champetre" for his life-long friend George Peabody of London. It was quoted as "probably the greatest affair of the kind ever given in this country. Over 10,000 guests were said to have been present," The New York Times estimated those present at 2,500. Pavilions for eating, drinking, and dancing were set up in the gardens and music was played by the German Musical Society. The "Card of Refreshments" included woodcocks, partridges, lobsters and crabs, pate do foie gras, oysters, ice cream, meringues, puddings, fruits of all sorts including black Hamburg grapes from the Wetmore greenhouse, champagne, Madeira, and Amontillado. This party was a model for the competitive entertainment of Newport after the Civil War.

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