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A keepsake reborn
Burkhart sheds new light on aging Milwaukee lighthouse
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North Point Light Station was a beacon of Milwaukee’s maritime life for more than a century, but by the time it was decommissioned in 1994, its light was nothing more than a flicker.
Yet North Point Lighthouse Friends Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to preserving
the station, decided the lighthouse and its surrounding buildings could
be vital parts of the city’s future and its celebration of the past.
The lighthouse, built between the mid- and late-1800s, is one of the oldest
remaining structures in Milwaukee. It is a 74-foot-tall reminder of the
days in which water served as the main highway between cities.
Working with the Milwaukee County Department of Transportation and Public Works, which owns the light station, the friends organization hired Burkhart Construction to renovate the keeper’s quarters. The lighthouse was restored in 2006.
The rejuvenated keeper’s quarters is now open to the public as a maritime museum, but Dick Moldenhauer, project manager for Burkhart, said the 2.5-story duplex was in rough shape when he first laid eyes on it.
“This was taken from an ugly duckling to a swan,” Moldenhauer said. “Taking something useless, abandoned and forgotten and turning it into something useful, to me that was the satisfaction of this project.”
With five prime contractors, Moldenhauer said, moving everyone forward in a coordinated manner was a real challenge, as was gaining necessary approvals due to the home’s age.
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Project Essentials Project
name: North Point Light Station
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The project had to meet National Park Service guidelines for historic lighthouses.
“When you do a historic restoration like this, the engineer, the architect and the contractor have to work very closely together,” Moldenhauer said. “Once you open the thing up, you just never know what you’ll find.”
Despite its historic nature, few original features remained in the keeper’s quarters when Burkhart began the project.
To bring back a historic feel, a hallway between the keeper’s quarters and lighthouse was recreated and the west porch was redesigned to more closely follow its original look.
But because the building is open to the public, fire sprinklers, handicapped-accessible elements and energy-efficient windows were part of the $1.6 million renovation.
— Jennifer Pfaff