John Kern House

Kern operated Milwaukee’s Eagle Four Mill, which ranked among America’s largest mills in the 1850s. To mark his success, he and his wife built the first house on Wahl Avenue, a German Renaissance Revival design in dark brick and brownstone. A stone balustraded veranda wraps the front of the house, joining at its center to form two entrance arches. The stepped gables have terra-cotta ornament, and the windows are trimmed with brownstone. A squat corner tower, topped by a polygonal, copper-covered dome, rises past the second story and ties into the steeply pitched roof, which is punctuated by a central shed-roofed dormer. Cyril Colnik designed the wrought-iron grilles of the double leaf doors and the balcony railing.