After the Jewish Federation bought two houses across from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus with plans to construct a new Jewish college center in their place, outraged neighbors are pleading to preserve the buildings for historical reasons.

When Robin Van Harpen, who lives just one house away from the 2005 and 2009 E. Kenwood Blvd. properties, found out that a demolition permit was filed Oct. 11, she submitted a nomination for historical preservation of the two houses, an interim historic designation study report stated.

Van Harpen would not comment on the nomination. Preliminary decisions on the property will be made at the Historical Preservation Commission’s Dec. 11 meeting, where both sides will be able to present their argument.

The meeting is an interim designation meeting for the properties where no final decision will be made about whether the two houses will be preserved but could temporarily prevent any alterations to the structures until all the facts can be sorted out.

“[It will] give us enough time to allow the process to go through the whole setting,” said Murray Hill Neighborhood Association President Gerard Capell, whose group is for the historic preservation. “Let’s make sure it is what the city wants to do.”

The houses are part of a “unified grouping of six houses” developed by Louis Auer & Son and built in 1916, according to the historic preservation report. The houses, which are described as bungalows in the report, have brick chimneys, distinctive windows, an open side terrace and covered porches.

The Jewish Foundation bought the two houses located on the corner of North Murray Avenue and East Kenwood Boulevard as a prime spot to build a new Jewish center for Hillel, an organization which serves Jewish college students through social programming and community services.

Currently Hillel is located at 3035 N. Stowell Ave., but they are running out of room for students who attend monthly Shabbat dinners and other Jewish activities and needed a new location, Hillel Vice President Zach Alpert said.

“The property was available for purchase,” Alpert said. “We needed an area big enough to encompass our growing population. You kind of jump on it.”

According to Alpert, the purchase came after the Milwaukee Jewish Community raised millions of dollars in their capital campaign to assist various Jewish organizations throughout the Milwaukee area. Hillel was just one of the organizations that benefited from the funds.

But the neighbors worry that if the houses are not preserved and the demolition goes through it could start a “domino effect” with other organizations or businesses buying houses and changing the face of the community, Capell said, representing the neighborhood association.

According to District 4 Ald. Robert Bauman, in his three years on the Historic Preservation Commission he has not seen any other property with this level of public involvement. Bauman said that there were around 25 concerned neighbors who spoke for the historical preservation at the commission’s original Oct. 16 meeting.

Anyone can testify at the meetings, Bauman said, but concerns about preserving historical significance will be considered more significant than concerns about potential effects on property values or future land uses.

“We don’t want to be used as a back-door zoning tool,” Bauman said.

Chair of the Hillel Building Project Committee Fred Croen said their plans to demolish the two houses and build a Jewish center are in line with current zoning ordinances and he remains optimistic that their building project will go through.

“We are anticipating that ultimately the process will work out favorably,” said Croen. “It is really an investment in the whole community.”

Croen, who is preparing a presentation against historic preservation for the December meeting, said there is nothing unique about the houses.

“These are examples of properties you can find all over Milwaukee,” Croen said.

If the Historical Preservation Commission recommends the houses for historical preservation at the interim meeting, more research will be done on the two houses. The issue will later go before the commission for a final recommendation and ultimately go before the Milwaukee Common Council for a vote.

If the houses are approved as historical sites, no alterations to the building’s exterior that require a building permit would be allowed unless the commission deems that the construction does not take away from the historical significance.

The meeting will be held 3 p.m., Monday, Dec. 11 in City Hall, tentatively in Room 301A.

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