The Lion House, one of Milwaukee's few remaining antebellum mansions, is available for lease.
The iconic Yankee Hill property has survived two fires, the Civil War and urban renewal. The home's two eponymous wooden lions sit sentinel out front.
Most recently, the Lion House and its two adjoining mansions served as the offices for two conservative think tanks, the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation and the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty. When the Bradley Foundation bought the property, it renovated the interior and added some calling cards of its own. The foundation adorned the walls along the main stairwell with decorative moldings of the eternal flame, a symbol of the American Empire. It also furnished the building in American Empire style.
In 2019, the Bradley Foundation moved its offices to the Hammes Building and sold the properties to Wisconsin Securities Partners. Today, the Lion House is mostly vacant office space. Like many post-pandemic office buildings, it's looking for tenants. The office space is available to both businesses and individuals.
Here's a timeline of the Lion House's storied past, according to an account by local historian Russell Zimmerman.
1849: The Lion House visionary arrives in Milwaukee
German immigrant Edward Diedrichs arrived in Milwaukee with $80,000 in cash and a plan to invest in real estate. He spent the next several years acquiring parcels of land overlooking Lake Michigan.
1855: The design begins
Diedrichs commissioned the firm Mygatt and Schmidtner to design his dream home. He wanted to replicate a villa he had seen during his days in Russia and was highly engaged in the design process, supplying the architects with sketches and pictures.
Henry Koch, then a draftsman at Mygatt and Schmidtner, was responsible for designing the lions out front. The lions were carved from all-clear white pine, taken from an old mast. Those original lions lasted nearly ninety years before they were removed.
1859: The original house burns
A fire broke out in the Lion House and destroyed the home. The lions, however, survived. Diedrichs' wife Bertha, was reportedly devastated to lose the home and urged her husband to rebuild. Diedrichs went into debt rebuilding the property, and soon lost the house to foreclosure. Diedrichs left town by 1863, and was said to have died years later in a New York poorhouse.
1875: Another fire breaks out, but the lions are spared again
Henry Mann, a chair and woodenware factory owner, bought the rebuilt Lion House in 1864. Another fire broke out in 1875 — this one minor. Mann reportedly told the firemen to "save the lions, whatever else might burn."