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Politics & Government

It Can Pay to Know Your Shorewood History

Shorewood revealed the historical significance of some village homes and buildings at a special meeting Tuesday. Homeowners could be eligible for a tax credit if their home is designated.

I will admit, I didn't think my house was going to be on the list of homes determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places by a consultant who surveyed Shorewood.

And I was right.

However, after attending the lecture Tuesday night by Carol Lohry Cartwright — the same expert the state hired to survey Shorewood for the East Capitol Drive improvement — there are a lot of properties in Shorewood that are eligible to be designation as historical.

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Cartwright just completed the study, worth over $15,000 — a gift from the state to Shorewood — after the volume of inquiries during her tenure here and her own observations deemed the village worthy of a survey. 

"Shorewood has such a remarkable number of historically and architecturally significant buildings," she said. "Compared to other areas, the stakes are high here for eligibility.

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"Pretty counts in Shorewood."

Tell me about it.

Cartwright's publication is called "The Architectural Survey of Shorewood, Wisconsin," and is chock full of addresses that are eligible. It is a laminated and plastic spiral bound booklet now available at the , 3920 N. Murray Ave., and also the Sheldon Room/Shorewood Historical Society on the lower level of the same building.

What does "eligible" for inclusion in the National Registry mean? If your house is listed and you were planning on putting in a $10,000 renovation that is in keeping with the look and feel of the design of your home, you stand a good chance of qualifying for a nice tax incentive (based on state income tax).

Karen De Hartog, president of the and host of the evening and survey, said, "Owners of individual properties listed in the report as potentially worthy of National Register of Historic Places designation can apply for the tax credits without getting the official designation. The credits will be given for renovation work that protects the historic integrity of the building. The renovations must be preapproved by the Wisconsin Historical Society's Preservation Office (Joe DeRose) and must total at least $10,000."

Some worried after the meeting that their property taxes would go up because of the designation.

"Not the designation," said De Hartog, "the improvements. Pulling a permit will generally trigger a response from the assessor's office, especially a $10,000 improvement."

Commercial building owners listed as eligible get a federal tax incentive (including income-generating properties like duplexes).

Yep, "Eligible" is a very, very strong word. Get thee to the library to see if your key unlocks the magic. And they're not all on North Lake Drive. Some of them are right near you, maybe even your address. You will be able to look up your address online — the database may not yet have the information unveiled last night, but check for it by around Dec. 15 or visit Wisconsinhistory.org. Look under historic building preservation, AH1 File.

There are not just houses on the list, but eight historical districts including , , and former Women's Club buildings, and a number of commercial and apartment buildings also.

There are groups of homes on North Lake Drive, as well as a small cluster of homes on North Ardmore Avenue, North Downer Drive and North Prospect/Farwell/Stowell Avenues.

If you own a "contributing home" in one of these districts, and the neighborhood or Shorewood Historical Society decides to pursue such a designation and create a new ordinance and review board, your home could then qualify for a group hug (tax incentive) through this mode as well.

Couple surprising entries

De Hartog expressed a bit of surprise at the inclusion of the in the survey.

"I knew about the veteran connection — that it was first built in the 40s to help offset the housing need for World War II vets and their families, but I didn't realize just how significant that was," she said.

Cartwright included in her survey that the property had many modern amenities that were rare for veteran housing at the time, including dishwashers, electric washer and dryers and generous grassy areas for families.

Finally, many were surprised to see the Catholic Family Life Insurance building at 1572 E. Capitol Dr. listed as a historically significant structure, until it was revealed it was the former home of the American Bowling Congress, which in the 50s was the most significant association in the country for bowling (maybe that's why the high school across the street has the only on-site bowling alley).

So, have at it. Check out your address, and learn something about Shorewood in the process. Then walk or bike home to your French Mediterranean Georgian colonial tudor revival and be happy that someone really did their homework 100 years ago.

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