Ned Hoffmann and Anne Devitt have a history of restoring beautiful old buildings.
Over the years they restored a duplex in Riverwest, then a house in Shorewood.
Nineteen years ago, they fell in love with a 1901 American Four Square in Milwaukee’s historic Concordia neighborhood and put their talents to use again.
“We didn’t want to do another restoration, but we were ready,” said Devitt. “The price was right. It was a little higher than we wanted to pay, but it’s such an impressive house.
“What drew us here was a combination of the big beautiful house and this neighborhood. We knew people who lived here. I also looked at the stairwell and saw the paneling up the stairs and the built-in buffet in the dining room, ”she said.
It was their greatest challenge, but also their greatest success.
Devitt, a lawyer, said when she and her husband bought the property, much of the plaster on the three-story, 3,800-square-foot house was crumbling, the house was dirty, and dirty carpeting covered all of the wood floors. Her husband, who does art restoration, is the owner of Hoffmann Art Services.
“The whole house was crumbling,” he said. “We bought it in March and we both worked on it every day but didn’t move in until June. We plastered the walls, cleaned all the woodwork, painted and redone the floors. We made one room after the other. “
“There was no end,” she added. “We also renewed all electrical and plumbing installations and added some new drywall. We have also built a 2½ car garage with a hipped roof. We had to build it in an architectural design to match the house because it’s on the National Register of Historic Places and it’s in the Concordia Historic District, ”she said.
Additional work included lighting, a new stove, window repairs, work on the chimney and a new roof.
Devitt said they switched all of the lights to new, contemporary lighting since a previous owner filled them with lighting from the 50s, and the only room in the house that has an authentic light fixture is the dining room. There the couple installed a chandelier that they had in their previous apartment.
When they added the new stove, it replaced a boiler stove that had resulted in massive heating costs.
“It was a cauldron from 1964 that wasn’t big enough for this house. The heating system at Concordia used to be connected to the main boiler. They disconnected long before we bought the house, but the mechanics are still in the basement. There’s a 20-inch pipe going into the house, ”he said.
The couple have continued to work on their home since those early days.
Her latest project just a month ago was to upgrade her bathroom on the second floor.
There they added a new vanity, shower, bathtub, toilet and floor. They also painted the room sage green and accented it with a crystal chandelier.
“It used to be a badly modernized and cheaply made bathroom. It was carpeted with red shag. There is no way we can live with that, ”she says.
While they made sure to preserve the original features and charm of the house during the repairs, they took a different approach with the furnishing.
Devitt said they wanted a lighter and more modern look instead of the dark and heavy look often used in homes of the time, so they bought new furniture in a classically contemporary style that would go well with the style of their home and be comfortable.
“My taste in decorating is changing. We had a lot of furniture, but we got rid of a lot of it and got more classic pieces with clearer lines, ”she said.
But some old pieces were kept and used.
These include a dining room set that belonged to Hoffmann’s grandmother, who once lived in the same neighborhood, her bedroom furniture also from his grandmother, and a bookcase in the library that belonged to Devitt’s uncle.
The couple’s extensive collection of artwork has also been trimmed down in favor of a less cluttered look and then hung throughout the house.
Some favorites include a work by Wisconsin artist Francesco Spicuzza that hangs over the living room fireplace, an oil painting on the stairs by an unknown artist, and an unfinished oil painting of a nude in the dressing room on the second floor of her friend Jerry Harrison’s mother’s mother who lived in the rock band Talking Heads played keyboard and guitar.
Hoffmann said that the third floor mostly features works by local artists. Favorites include pieces by Brad VandeVenter, Les Leffingwell, Ann Powell, Michael Westcott, Max Fernekes Jr., and Marvin Hill.
Devitt said the house, called the Missouri Synod House, was built by Charles and Ida Krause and designed by Schnetsky and Liebert, who built numerous churches and residences in Milwaukee. Like the Concordia House, many of these buildings show the Art Nouveau and Neo-Renaissance which are German movements.
Over the years the house was also owned by Concordia University and the Westside Conservation Corporation.
Devitt said American Four Square homes, popular from the mid-1890s to the 1930s, typically have a square, box-shaped design, are 2½ stories high, four large square rooms on each floor, large porches, wide staircases, and design elements from the Arts & Crafts movement.
Your home will be featured on this year’s Concordia Tour of Homes, a virtual tour that begins June 19.
They recently talked about the home they share with their two rescued cats, Spicy and Tiny.
Question: What are some of the amenities of your home?
Devitt: It has nice decorative wood paneling and floors. In the dining room, the walls are clad with paneling with plate rails and there is a built-in buffet with leaded glass windows. The foyer has wood paneling that is very Edwardian, and the stairs have six carved wooden urns. We also have pocket doors on the first floor, all radiators are decorative and the house has decorative fittings.
This house also has the original copper gutters. They are big enough to walk on. They are 12 inches wide. Also the large windows that let in a lot of light. Most of them still have the original glass and are about two and a half meters high on the first floor.
Hoffmann: Also the walk-in closets in all bedrooms. They are all large and have windows.
Q: What kind of wood is in your house?
Hoffmann: The first floor is made entirely of oak, the second floor is made entirely of maple and the third floor has pine floors and maple cladding.
Q: How is your first floor laid out?
Devitt: It has an entrance hall; a foyer with a large staircase, a living room, a dining room, a kitchen with a dining area, which in our opinion was originally a pantry. Half a bath too.
Q: How many bedrooms do you have?
Devitt: Six. There are four on the second floor. One at the front of the house is used as a library. It was the office of one of the presidents of Concordia. The other is my office and one is my dressing room. The fourth is our bedroom. On the third floor we have two guest rooms.
Q: how many bathrooms do you have?
Devitt: 2½. A powder room was added off a hallway on the first floor before we bought the house. There is a full bathroom on the second floor and we have added a full bathroom on the third floor.
Q: Is there a second flight of stairs in your home?
Devitt: It only has one flight of stairs now. Originally there were two stairwells. A staircase was intended for servants and was partially hidden from the view of the guests. A small part of it still exists in a door on the pedestal of the main staircase. Usually the servants’ stairs were at the back of a house. This is the center of the house. It’s very strange.
Q: Will you one day update your kitchen?
Devitt: We would like that. A previous owner updated it. I would replace the cabinets, get granite countertops, get new appliances, and change the tiles on the floor.
Hoffmann: But changing the tiled floor would be a task, because there are five floor coverings in this room. We think there is a maple back underneath. That would be nice.
Q: What colors did you use in your home?
Devitt: The library on the second floor is Hunting Coat Red, a color by Ralph Lauren. The same color was used in the foyer. The master is sage, the locker room is cream-colored Swiss coffee.
Q: how many chimneys do you have?
Devitt: Two. The one in the living room has an original cast iron grate. It was originally a coal-fired fireplace, but now we use wood.
Hoffmann: We added the chimney. There was no. You could look up into the chimney and see the sky.
Devitt: There’s a fireplace in the library too. It has the original mantelpiece. The mantelpiece in the living room was removed at some point. The tiles around the fireplace in the library are not original, but the tiles on the floor are.
Q: Are there any more projects?
Devitt: We have to have the exterior cladding painted and will continue to work on the garden. I want to have a nice perennial garden. We also need to paint the back hallway and basement.
Q: What do you like about this area?
Devitt: The neighbors. We all know. We have neighborhood meetings, tours, and parties. Some of them are formal and some are casual. Everyone here helps everyone.
Hoffmann: Our neighbors are all hardworking people.
Q: Where do you spend most of your time?
Devitt: We use every room in this house. We sit in the living room to have coffee and read the newspaper every morning, we read in the library and we watch TV in the groovy room. That has the biggest TV in it.
Q: What is the groovy room?
Devitt: It’s a room on the third floor that used to be an attic. We added walls, a skylight and a full bathroom next to it. We used modern furniture for the furnishing.
Q: Where do you work when restoring paintings?
Hoffmann: I have studio rooms in the basement.
Devitt: It is air-conditioned because he has to have a dust-free environment for his work. At least as dust-free as possible.
Q: What famous artists have you worked on?
Hoffmann: I made some Rembrandts and paintings by Jan Lievens. He was a Dutch Golden Age painter who was associated with his close contemporary, Rembrandt, early in his career. The spicuzzas too.
Q: Have you been on the tour before?
Devitt: Yes, about five times. We are frequent flyers.
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When you go
What: Historic Concordia Home Tour: Spirit of Historic Concordia.
Where: A virtual tour of around 40 locations in the Concordia district.
When: From June 19th with no end date.
Costs: The tour is free, but donations to a local charity can be made on the website.
Events: The event includes an introduction to the Concordia neighborhood by historian John Gurda; and John Eastberg will give a presentation entitled “Beer Barons of Historic Concordia”.
For more informations: See hcni.org/home-tour
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