Waukesha's historic Blair House to be restored as bed and breakfast

Waukesha — It was just over two years ago when Lisa and Bob Salb offered to buy a city-owned historic building and convert it into Waukesha's only bed and breakfast inn.

Now, the Salbs are embarking on their long project, involving a 140-year-old local landmark known as the Blair House.

The Salbs will do the work themselves, taking about five years to complete the conversion while keeping their day jobs.

They figure the renovations would cost around $500,000 if they hired contractors to do that work.

They seem undaunted by what lies ahead — perhaps because they've already waited out a prolonged legal battle to finally be able to buy the property.

"We don't take anything for granted," Bob Salb said at a recent Common Council hearing on the conversion plans. "It's been a long road to get to this point."

The council unanimously approved the plans, which include rezoning the Blair House, 434 Madison St. A separate council vote to approve the property's sale will likely come in March.

"The Common Council believes that the building should be saved," said Waukesha Mayor Shawn Reilly.

The Salbs are buying the two-story, 4,353-square-foot building for $1,000, with that price reflecting the long list of improvements needed to convert it to a bed and breakfast. The couple submitted the only response to the city's 2014 request for development proposals.

City officials had hoped to sell the building to the Salbs two years ago.

However, that was delayed by a lawsuit against the city filed by Waukesha Masonic Lodge No. 37. That group claimed the city violated the terms of Henry Blair's will, which transferred ownership of the house to the city after his death in 1957.

Blair, a mayor of Waukesha in the 1920s, said the city should not use the property for commercial purposes. His will also said the property would go to the Masonic Lodge, which included Blair as a member, if those terms were violated.

The city said the lodge's claim was frivolous.

The city leased the building for several years to Waukesha Memorial Hospital and to the hospital's parent organization, ProHealth Care. It was used for medical offices by the nonprofit corporation, which the city said met the terms of Blair's will.

The city listed it for sale after ProHealth Care's lease ended in 2013.

Blair's will said the property could be sold, as long as the city used the proceeds for a specific civic purpose.

In March 2015, it was disclosed that a lodge member, developer Eric Standarski, was offering to buy the house and an adjacent city parking lot for $110,000. Standarski wanted to demolish the Blair House and replace it with new housing, city officials said.

The Common Council unanimously rejected that offer. Standarski later said he did not plan to demolish the Blair House, but did want to develop condos on the property.

The litigation continued until December, when Waukesha County Circuit Judge Kathryn Foster ruled in favor of the city and dismissed the lodge's suit. That led to the Common Council's Feb. 18 vote to rezone the Blair House for a bed and breakfast.

At that council hearing, Bob Salb read a long list of improvements needed to convert the building into the Spring City Bed and Breakfast.

The Spring City name is an homage to Waukesha's historic mineral water springs, which were a national draw in the late 19th century. The inn will feature five guest rooms, as well as a residence for the Salbs.

The work will include remodeling three bedrooms and adding four more bedrooms; creating a new kitchen; removing drop ceilings and fluorescent lights; updating the heating equipment; reglazing the windows; repairing plaster ceilings and walls; repairing damaged baseboards and crown molding; removing an office from the house's front porch; refinishing the hardwood floors; painting; and landscaping.

"Any contractor listening to this has dollar signs rolling in his head," Salb told council members.

That is why the Salbs will be doing that work on weekends and evenings over the next five years.

"We're perfectionists," Lisa Salb said, in an interview. "That's why we like to take our time."

The Salbs have some experience with historic restoration. Both are members of the Waukesha Preservation Alliance, and Lisa Salb is an architectural designer at Bielinski Homes Inc.

As a young couple, the Salbs did an extensive restoration of their Waukesha house, which was built in 1914.

"That was our practice for this," Bob Salb, director of operations at Marcus Promotions Inc., said in an interview.

The brick Italianate-style home was completed in 1876 for William Blair, a well-known Waukesha banker and business operator who also served in the state Senate. He was the father of Henry Blair, the former mayor.

The building, which includes a 1970s addition, has a hilltop location with expansive views of the city.

It is within walking distance of downtown Waukesha's shops and night life, and there's a lot of space to create the inn's guest rooms, the Salbs said.

Also, the original home has features, including a solarium and a dining room with an arched ceiling, that will provide good amenities for the inn's guests, Lisa Salb said.

It apparently will be Waukesha's only bed and breakfast.

Bed and breakfast directories list inns in nearby communities such as Oconomowoc, Eagle and Wales. Downtown Waukesha does have a 20-room boutique hotel, the Clarke Hotel.

The Salbs are looking forward to creating their new business. They've been collecting such items as a claw foot bathtub, cane back chairs and antique lamps for the bed and breakfast's furnishings.

"It's going to look gorgeous," Bob Salb said.

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