28 Oct the “castle on kilbourn” revisited: photographic survey of the joseph b. kalvelage house
“castle on kilbourn” revisited.
recent detail photographic survey of the german baroque style joseph b. kalvelage mansion (otto strack, 1896), located at 2432 west kilbourn avenue, milwaukee, wisc.
the ornamental hand wrought iron was executed by cyril colnik, who was known as the “tiffany of wrought iron masters.”
the buff-colored terra cotta ornament was fabricated by the northwestern terra cotta company, chicago, il.
the intricately designed and finely executed exterior ornamental wrought iron adorning the mansion’s facade was hand-crafted by cyril colnik (1871-1957), a notable milwaukee metal artisan, who came to the states in 1893 to assist the german government with their ironwork exhibits at the chicago world’s fair. shortly thereafter, colnik moved to milwaukee where he earned a highly favorable reputation that resulted in securing several commissions from beer barons captain frederick pabst and herman uihlein of the schlitz brewing company, among others.
