The Fox Point home of the late artist Mary Nohl is the stuff of legend in the Milwaukee area.
Nohl, who passed away in 2001, decorated the house and filled the yard with her unique sculptures and the home was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. It became a Milwaukee County landmark the following year.
Born in 1914 in Milwaukee to a lawyer and musically-inclined mother, Nohl studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and taught in public schools in Baltimore and in Milwaukee.
She moved to her parents lake cottage and worked in painting, sculpting, pottery, printmaking, woodcarving, writing, illustrating, cartooning and making jewelry.
Because of its uniqueness and eerie vibe at night, the property came to be called the Witch's House and, to the displeasure of neighbors, drew many curious visitors.
Since 2001, the property has been stewarded by the Kohler Foundation and managed by the John Michael Kohler Arts Center.
Although it's not typically open for tours, except by appointment on an extremely limited basis, OnMilwaukee friend – and Old Milwaukee Facebook group creator and author of "Fading Ads of Milwaukee" and "Kodachrome Milwaukee" – Adam Levin recently got a peek.
Here's what he saw:
Levin described the home as "quiet in a way that feels preserved rather than abandoned. Smaller than expected, but dense with details that only start to register once you slow down.
"Having the place to myself made it easier to focus, and the guide’s context gave a different meaning to things that might otherwise seem random."
Find Adam on Instagram here.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press. A fifth collects Urban Spelunking articles about breweries and maltsters.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has been heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
