Building history:
The Warehouse Lofts building is significant to Milwaukee's heritage because it is a well-preserved example of a heavy timber frame warehouse built in the downtown area a century ago and because it was associated with two firms important in the development of Milwaukee's carriage and hardware trades - Suelflohn & Seefeld, and Shadbolt & Boyd. The latter firm, especially, was one of Milwaukee's longest-lived and most important wholesale businesses. It operated for well over a century and illustrates the evolution of a single firm as it adapted to changing market conditions - from wagon making to iron and carriage hardware, to automobile supplies and heavy hardware wholesaling, and finally to industrial supply wholesaling.
Built in 1897
The Warehouse Lofts building was originally constructed in 1897 for H. Seefeld & Sons, heir to Suelflohn & Seefeld, wholesale dealers in carriage hardware, wagon woodwork and farriers supplies. On July 4, 1897, a notice in the Milwaukee Sentinel described construction progress: Work on the large warehouse for H. Seefeld & Sons on Second St. near Fowler St. (now St. Paul Avenue) is progressing rapidly. The Walls have been carried to the height of 5 stories and the roof is now being put on.
Alexander Cotzhausen & Co. at No. 218 West Water Street established the firm of Suelflohn & Seefeld in 1867. August F. Suelflohn took it over in October of the same year, and the firm became Suelflohn & Otto. In the summer of 1868, Gustav A. Seefeld became a partner in the business, and the name was changed to Suelflohn, Seefeld & Otto. In 1869 Otto sold out to his partners and the firm became Suelflohn & Seefeld. In 1870, the company moved to No. 100 West Water Street, and from there, in 1876, to 75-77 West Water Street, where it occupied a three-story, 50 by 100 foot building. The company conducted business throughout the "northwest" (i.e. the Midwest). In 1881, it employed a home force of ten, plus one traveling salesman.
The founder of Suelflohn & Seefeld, August F. Suelflohn (1815-1887), was born in Prussia on October 11, 1815, and came to America in 1839, moving directly to Milwaukee. He was variously employed until 1850, when he became a member of the firm Pritzlaff & Co., a hardware store once located on the southwest corner of Plankington and St. Paul Avenue (the old Hack's Furniture building). Three years later he left Pritzlaff and formed a partnership with Christopher Arnold, whom he bought out in 1856, continuing the business alone until 1860, when he sold out. He was listed in the 1858-59 Milwaukee City Directory as owing a hardware business at 297 Third Street.
Suelflohn was engaged in commission work from 1860 until the fall of 1867, when he took over the business of Alexander Cotzhausen & Co., which became Suelflohn & Seefeld. Suelflohn died in October 1887. The firm's other partner, Gustav A. Seefeld, was born in Prussia in 1848, and came to Milwaukee with his parents when he was two years old. After working as a clerk with John Pritzlaff for two years, he became a junior partner in the firm of Suelflohn & Seefeld.
In 1933, Suelflohn & Seefeld leased their building at 413 N. Second Street to the rival firm of Shadbolt & Boyd Co., wholesale industrial distributors. Established in 1863 John Shadbolt and Francis Boyd, the company was one of Milwaukee's oldest major businesses. It began as a wagon making business on the southeast corner of Michigan Street and Broadway in the early days of Milwaukee's history, and by 1892 had become one of the most substantial and long established jobbing concerns in iron, steel, carriage and wagon hardware in the Midwest.
Shadbolt & Boyd purchased the building from Suelflohn & Seefeld in the 1960s and remodeled the first and second floors. In 1994, the Green Bay firm Thew Supply purchased Shadbolt & Boyd and moved the operation from 413 N. Second Street to a new warehouse outside the city. In 1995, the building was sold to Second Property LLC, a company formed by Ron SanFelippo, Craig Kuper, and Jeff Nowak.
Front view of the Warehouse Lofts on 2nd Street, 1997 on the left, 2003 on the right.
Photo below, the building got a new sign in August 2005.
I purchased my loft as a condominium June 30, 2003. My first project...? Put a beer tap on the wet bar of course. This little project was completed Sunday August 17th...I am enjoying an ice cold Miller High Life as I type the update to this web page!
Suite 260 original floor Plan.
Bedroom wall was moved 2 feet, and a wet bar added off the dining room.
View from hallway, 1997 on the left, 2003 on the right.
View from Foyer looking into kitchen, 1997 on the left, 2003 on the right.
Freight elevator ran through the kitchen of my loft, 1997 on the left, 2003 on the right.
View of the dining room, 1997 on the left, 2003 on the right.
View of the living room, 1997 on the left, 2003 on the right.
View of the wall of 50 foot windows off the living room, 1997 on the left, 2005 on the right.
View of the den entrance, 1997 on the left, 2003 on the right.
View of the wet bar added to the dining room. Both photos from 2005.
View of the build in beer tap installed August 2003. Photo from 2005.
Views of the Warehouse Lofts from a plane, June 2007. Click to enlarge.
Views of the Warehouse Lofts from a plane, June 2007. Click to enlarge.
In 2003 the apartments are in the process of being converted from apartments to condominiums. In all but 3 units facing east, 8 x 20-foot balconies are being added. My balcony, and all balconies on the west side of the building are 7.5 x 22-feet.
Looking for a condo...want to see the lofts for yourself? Units still available for sale, click the Warehouse Lofts logo to link to the loft web site www.warehouseloft.info.
The Warehouse Lofts building is marked in the above photo with a red dot.
This color advertisement I have found in 2 March/April 2004 publications: Midwest Airlines Magazine, and Milwaukee Home. A unit in the Warehouse Lofts on my floor (2nd floor) was featured in Milwaukee Homes premier issue.
