Born again

La Crosse developer resurrects the Doerflinger

By Paul Snyder

The main entrance to the Doerflinger building is on Fourth Street in La Crosse. Photo by Paul Snyder

When the request for proposals landed on Mike Keil's desk, he threw it out.

The city of La Crosse was looking for a developer to restore the Doerflinger building - the department store in the heart of downtown that served the city for 80 years - to its original glory. But 20 years of changing owners and general neglect left the structure a dust-covered shadow of its former self.

"I just thought, 'No, I don't want to get involved with that,'" Keil said.

That was his first thought. The problem was that he kept thinking about it.

"They wanted somebody to take it over and restore it the way it should be restored," he said. "So I decided that it really presented a fantastic opportunity.

"It's a one-of-a-kind building at the exact center of downtown La Crosse. The city has really blossomed into a vibrant area in recent years, and I thought, 'Why not give it a shot?'"

On Nov. 11, 2004, Keil gave the city $15,000 for the building.

One hundred years earlier, on April 27, 1904, William Doerflinger held the grand opening of his new store. A year before that, a fire completely destroyed his store at the corner of Fourth and Main streets.

The Doerflinger building still stands at the corner of Main and Fourth streets in La Crosse. Photo by Paul Snyder

As he was quickly becoming one of La Crosse's most prominent retailers, Doerflinger almost immediately set plans in motion to replace the store with something bigger and grander. Built by George and Leonard Zeisler in just under a year and at a cost of $90,483.80, the four-story, 86,000-square-foot building quickly established itself as one of downtown La Crosse's distinctive structures.

"It's a solid, well-constructed building that received a lot of use in its heyday," said Pete Zirbel of River Architects Inc., the La Crosse-based design team for the restoration project. "It's great to see how it still brings back memories and prompts people to reminisce in this city."

After Doerflinger died in 1926, his daughter, Viola Doerflinger Fellows, stepped in and served as president of the department store until her death in 1954, when she was succeeded by her son, Samuel Fellows Jr.

The store enjoyed its greatest period of prosperity under Samuel Fellows' leadership. His son, Samuel Fellows III, began working at the store in the mid-1970s and said his father was an effective leader because many of his ideas were ahead of their time.

"I was working there when I was a teen-ager, and I remember looking around and seeing my dad, who was about 60 at the time, and all the other people in the major managerial positions there were all in their 20s," he said. "Nowadays, it's a bit more common, but that was pretty progressive for the 1960s and 1970s."

With retirement looming, Fellows closed the store in 1984, but his son said there weren't too many tears shed over bidding adieu to the building that had been part of his family for 80 years.

A 1930 postcard shows the Doerflinger building in the heart of downtown La Crosse. Image courtesy of La Crosse Public Library

"Dad was actually pretty happy to wash his hands of the store," Samuel Fellows III said. "It was a lot of work. I think he's excited to see the building get another chance now, but he's not as big of a sentimentalist as some people might think.

"It's just the way the business and development go - always evolving."

The evolution stalled after Fellows closed shop, said Tim Kabat, the city's senior planner for economic development. A number of developers tried to step in and take over the building, but no one could pull it off. The sheer size of the structure was a lot to handle, as the city itself found out when it gained possession of the Doerflinger.

"Frankly, the city's not the best landlord," he said. "We lack the budget and necessary means to keep up with the day-to-day maintenance it would've taken to keep the building in shape."

So Keil's $15,000 not only bought the building, but the 20 years' worth of decay that came with it. Missing rails and banisters permeated the store's grand staircase, elevators sat lifeless in their shafts, windows were blinded by thick film, and treading the store's upper levels meant stepping lightly over rotten floorboards and loose nails.

Making matters worse, the failed attempts at redevelopment throughout the 1980s and 1990s left a mess.

Patrons can now appreciate the Doerflinger's staircase from a new angle with the opening of the back alley entrance. Photo by Paul Snyder

"The previous developers tried to piecemeal things together in here in an attempt to find the quickest way to turn a buck," said Dan Miller, project manager for Holmen-based Borton Construction, the general contractor for the first phase of the restoration. "They weren't taking the historical factor of the building into consideration at all.

"So we had a tall task on our hands - not only to get rid of the mess that previous developers had left but to preserve the history that came before it."

The cost to renovate the entire building is estimated at $2.25 million over two phases, and in order to qualify for the tax credits provided by state and federal governments for a historical restoration project, Keil can't just remove and replace as he pleases.

"They allow you to account for new code issues, but they want you to save as much of the original fabric as possible," he said.

That doesn't mean the historical structure can't be put to new use. The revamped building will have prominent new features - like condominiums replacing what used to be a warehouse and storage room on the fourth floor.

At the same time, Keil is working under the Wisconsin Historical Society's guidelines to restore much of the building's original detail. The main staircase, for instance, must have its missing banisters and rails replaced - and not just with any old (or new) design.

The Doerflinger's original freight elevator, though slowed a little by age, is still in service. Photo by Paul Snyder

"We had to save everything we could, and not just come in and do something cheap to replace the missing pieces," Keil said. "If they weren't there, we had to reproduce them exactly as they were."

Well, almost exactly. The staircase's original balusters were neither tall enough nor strong enough to meet current building safety codes.

"We had to raise the height of the balusters from 36 inches to 42 inches, and we also had to reinforce them to sustain 200 pounds of lateral force," said Miller. "And we had to do all that without changing how they looked on the exterior. There was definitely a bit of head scratching over that."

But there was also a bit of guidance.

"We were fortunate to have historic photographs and some remaining original woodwork to guide us in the restoration of the monumental stair and mezzanine paneling," said River Architects' Zirbel.

And Keil said the resemblance is uncanny.

"The workers did a fantastic job, and unless I point out which ones are new and which ones are old, you really can't tell the difference," he said.

Shoppers also will get a new view of the staircase. The construction of a parking structure along Jay Street in recent years means the building's back alley entrance is now its most accessible. Keil made sure it's also the most attractive.

"This used to be a banged up, tiny area where you'd hit your head on pipes as you walked in," he said. "So we took everything out and opened up the ceiling, and now people can look up and see the stairway wrapping its way around upward."

Some of the other elements of the first phase included a new passenger elevator, state-of-the-art electrical service upgrades, new bathroom facilities, new flooring, restoration of 100-year-old floors in the stairway area from the mezzanine to the third floor and a new security system.

"Everybody really got into the spirit of the project," Keil said. "I told them that this building already had 100 years behind it, and our job is to give it another 100."

After a retail tenant is signed for one of the upper floors, Keil will begin the second phase of work, which will involve replacing all of the glass in the building along Main and Fourth streets, redoing floors, installing a new boiler and air-conditioning system, and putting a new roof on the building.

The two-phased restoration is sure to introduce a variety of new elements to the old structure, but Keil said one of the highlights of the project will be restoring one of the building's trademark historical elements.

"One of the most exciting things will be reopening the tearoom on the mezzanine level," he said. "It opened in the 1950s, and kids used to love it because they would get their treat and be able to look down on all the shoppers on the first floor.

"People have come up to me saying what a treat it used to be around Christmas time as kids to come to the Doerflinger and look at all the merchandise and get a soda or ice cream in the tearoom. They're really excited that we're bringing that back."

Fellows said the building's return will hopefully create a lot of new memories for La Crosse.

"It's nice to see it revitalized, and I do think [Keil's] doing a really good job with it," he said.

Kabat, meanwhile, said the timing is perfect for the renaissance, as the city's downtown area is enjoying its largest growth in business in history.

"It's going to be a huge benefit to downtown La Crosse to have the Doerflinger back," he said. "We've had about 15 years of hard work in this city to revitalize the downtown area, and I think the renovation of the Doerflinger really epitomizes the struggle and rebirth of La Crosse.

"It's a sign of good things to come."