Klein Block Renovations
Work starts on downtown Janesville apartments with courtyard
05/07/2019 by Neil Johnson njohnson@gazettextra.com
CCI crews will reuse bricks from this three-story demolition project in Janesville to rebuild a facade that replicates a historic 1870’s hotel.
JANESVILLE By August, a mostly vacant triplet of West Milwaukee Street storefronts will be transformed into loft-style apartments with off-street parking and a private courtyard.
But first, one of the historic buildings at 415-419 W. Milwaukee St. will have to be razed and part of its front rebuilt from the ground up.
Property owner and developer Mick Gilbertson said demolition crews working on the former Russell/Davis House property near the corner of Milwaukee and Academy streets plan to completely raze the building’s three-story brick portion and rebuild part of its front 15 feet high.
The façade will shield a private courtyard for those living in a pair of loft apartments Gilbertson plans to build above the two storefronts to the east. The apartments would put the upper floors of a circa-1870 hotel back into use after years of vacancy.
Crew members from Corporate Contractors Inc. said they plan to use bricks from the three-story building being razed to rebuild a façade that replicates the historic first-floor front of the hotel.
Among the façade’s features, the contractors said, will be a doorway and a set of arched windows that likely will be built from curved brick and stone used in the building’s original windows.
