The historic Gettelman brewery building isn't moving after all; it'll be renovated instead
It turns out the original Schweichart/Gettelman brewery building isn't crossing the road.
Marty Maloney, manager of media relations for MillerCoors, confirmed Friday that the 1856 farmhouse building that first housed Gettelman — and which at one point had been ticketed for demolition — will be renovated and remain where it is on State St., instead of being moved across the street next to the parking lot at the Miller Visitor Center, 4521 W. State St.
The back buildings at the Gettleman site were torn down earlier this summer.
The buildings and the farmhouse were among the last remnants of the old Gettelman Brewery, one of Milwaukee's first major breweries.
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Miller Brewing bought Gettelman in 1961 and operated it as a stand-alone brewery until about 1970, when production was folded into the rest of the Miller Valley campus. The farmhouse building was used for brewery engineering offices and as the sales and marketing offices of the Plank Road Brewery, which marketed Icehouse and Red Dog. The offices were abandoned in the 1990s.
In March 2017, MillerCoors disclosed plans to tear down the entire Gettelman property and turn the site into a staging area for truck transit. But after some in the community objected to demolishing a part of the city's history, the Common Council last fall approved a permanent historic preservation designation for the original home portion of the Gettelman Brewery.
At that point, MillerCoors said it planned to move the Gettelman farmhouse near the brewery's visitor center.
But on further review, Maloney said via email Friday, MillerCoors decided it could separate employee and truck traffic while improving truck transit in and out of the brewery without moving the Gettelman building.
Most of the renovations — including new doors and windows and the addition of a porch, which would replicate part of the original property — are expected to take place in October, Maloney said.
Maloney said the city Historic Preservation Commission was aware of MillerCoors' change of plans. A request for comment from the commission, whose offices were closed Thursday and Friday, didn't get a reply.
The "new" Gettelman building will not be open to the public, Maloney said.