Petitions filed with the city’s Department of Neighborhood Services (DNS) has put a hold on demolition of a one story building designed by a noted Black architect located at 1747 N. Sixth Street.
Milwaukee architect Chris Rute and the Milwaukee Preservation Alliance, filed the petitions with the DNS’s Historic Preservation Commission.
The petitions seek both permanent and temporary historic designation for the building, which was part of a 1970s commercial complex initially known as ‘Central City Plaza.’
A building permanently designated as historic cannot be demolished without commission approval.
However, commission rulings can be appealed to the council.
The 180-day temporary period can be used as an emergency measure to stop work, giving the commission time to consider permanent designation. Permanent designation also requires the Common Council and mayoral approval.
Rute and the Preservation Alliance claim Central City Plaza, which features a larger, two-story building at 600 W. Walnut St., was designed in the New Formalism style and constructed in 1973.
The Plaza is historically significant because it was, according to Rute and the Preservation Alliance, designed by pioneering Black Milwaukee Architect Alonzo Robinson, Jr., who was the first registered Black architect in Wisconsin “and had a distinguished public and private career,” the petitions say.
The Plaza was the only Black-operated shopping center to be completed under the U.S. Small Business Administration’s community development program.
It was developed by Central City Development Corporation., led by the late Milwaukee civil rights leader and trailblazer Felmers O. Chaney.
The plaza’s Black-owned businesses included Central City Drug Store, Darby’s Food, Pago’s Liquor Store, Masterpiece Supper Club and Masterpiece Motor Lodge.
The plaza became vacant by 1977. It was sold to the Prince Hall Masons in 1982, a fraternal organization that rented excess space to social service agencies and nonprofit groups.
More recently, the Sixth Street building was used by Yellow Cab Corporate before the Salvation Army purchased it in May for $1.25 million, according to city assessment records.
A Salvation Army representative couldn’t be reached for comment and for information on the group’s plans for the 0.5-acre lot.
Source for this article: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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