Schuster Mansion plans to add garden, restore porch
Bed and breakfast wants to expand seating outdoors
The operators of a historic bed and breakfast inn on Milwaukee’s near west side plan to add a garden and porch to attract more guests.
Those additions would help the Schuster Mansion, 3209 W. Wells St., attract more customers, said Laura Sue Mosier. She and her husband, Rick, have operated the bed and breakfast since 2008.
They want to add an extensive Victorian garden, including a fountain and pergola, according to plans filed with the city.
The Mosiers also want to restore a porch to the mansion’s east side. They have the original railing, which would be part of the new porch.
Those plans require approval from the Historic Preservation Commission. They are to be reviewed at the commission’s June 4 meeting.
The porch and garden would help draw more people to stay at the Schuster Mansion’s seven guest rooms, Mosier said.
It also would provide more space for non-guests who come for the Schuster Mansion’s tea service, she said. People paying for the tea service now stay inside the building.
“Wouldn’t it be wonderful if they could go sit out in the garden?” Mosier said.
The project would cost an estimated $60,000, she said.
The Mosiers hope to begin the work as soon as possible if the plans are approved by the commission.
The mansion was built in 1891 as a home for George Schuster, a wealthy Milwaukee business operator.
After Schuster’s death, the mansion was sold in 1924 and converted into a small apartment building. The slow conversion to a bed and breakfast began in 2001, with the Mosiers taking over that project 10 years ago.
The Schuster Mansion is one of three historic Victorian mansions, converted to bed and breakfast inns, that operate within a few blocks of one another near the former Concordia College campus.
The other two inns are the Manderley Bed and Breakfast, 3026 W. Wells St., and the Brumder Mansion, 3046 W. Wisconsin Ave.