Case Study: Northwestern Branch, National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Headquarters Building, Northwestern Branch, National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Ryan Hainey Photography. Courtesy: The Alexander Companies

The Northwestern Branch, National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers—known as the Milwaukee Soldiers’ Home—has been returned to its original purpose of housing and providing services for veterans thanks to a $44 million rehabilitation project undertaken by The Alexander Company of Madison, Wisconsin.

With eleven branches nationwide, the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers was created to house and provide medical care for disabled Union troops after the Civil War. The Northwestern Branch, opened in 1867, was particularly innovative, being the first to employ professional female nurses and to provide separate quarters for elderly veterans. The branches operated until 1930, when they were incorporated into the Veterans’ Administration. The Northwestern Branch—the Milwaukee Soldiers’ Home—is one of four branches that were designated as National Historic Landmarks in 2011.

As part of an Enhanced Use Lease agreement with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, The Alexander Company preserved and rehabilitated six vacant historic buildings on the Soldiers Home campus into 101 supportive housing units for veterans and their families who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. Residents have access to onsite services provided by the Milwaukee VA Medical Center.

When preservation efforts began in 2010, the fate of the Soldiers’ Home campus was so uncertain that it was listed as one of the 11 Most Endangered Historic Places in America by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 2011. The Victorian Gothic Old Main building (1867-1877), constructed of Milwaukee’s well-known Cream City brick and topped with a polychromatic slate roof, had been vacant for 20 years. Now the building and its iconic tower are again the eye-catching centerpiece of the campus. The Headquarters Building (1895), the Catholic Chaplain’s Quarters (1909), and several Quarters buildings (1916-1922) have also been rehabilitated for veterans’ housing.

Highlights of the rehabilitation work included careful treatment of the buildings’ exteriors and preservation of historic interior features and finishes throughout. Historic doors and windows, wood and terrazzo floors, and metal ceilings and wall tiles were preserved and repaired. Even historic post-office boxes were returned to their original use.

The Alexander Company partnered with the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee and led a wide-ranging public-private partnership to preserve and reuse the Soldiers’ Home’s historic buildings. Funding sources included Federal low-income housing tax credits, Federal and State historic tax credits, and many other military and corporate foundation funding sources. The Greater Milwaukee Foundation and the Milwaukee Preservation Alliance organized a public fundraising campaign, Every Hero Deserves a Home, that attracted hundreds of individual donations. The project also received a Federal Save America’s Treasures through the National Park Service.

The rehabilitation of the six buildings at the Soldiers’ Home has received many awards, including a 2021 Richard H. Driehaus Foundation National Preservation Award given by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the 2021 ACHP/HUD Secretary’s Award for Excellence in Historic Preservation. It also provides a replicable model for preserving historic institutions such as the Soldiers’ Home and returning them to active service to their communities.