After spending the past two years wrapped up in legal battles, Bob and Lisa Salb are finally moving into Waukesha’s historic Blair House, and preparing to renovate the property into the city’s first bed and breakfast.
The Salbs closed on the two-story, 4,353-square-foot mansion at 434 Madison St. on March 18, more than two years after offering the city $1,000 to purchase the property.
The couple, which has lived in Waukesha for 25 years, is nearly finished moving into the house. The Salbs will occupy the second floor while renovating the first floor. Then, they will move downstairs so they can begin to renovate the second floor.
“It’s a whole new season in our life,” said Bob Salb. “We’ve been saying this will take five years, but hope to do better than that. There are a lot of different things to bite off.”
The first will be to get approval from the city’s Landmark Commission. The Salbs have submitted a certificate of appropriateness to begin work on the house. The commission will review the proposal April 6.
Phase one includes removing suspended ceilings and fluorescent light fixtures, refinishing oak floors, adding a shower to the first floor bathroom and exposing original brick that was covered in drywall during a 1970s remodel.
The Salbs would like to begin that work on April 7. The house will be open to the public on May 22 during the Waukesha Preservation Alliance weekend.
“We’re patching plaster, not gutting the building,” Bob Salb said. “We’re opening it back up, fixing crown molding, not ripping up walls. There is a lot to figure out, but we are going to get it back to how it is supposed to be.”
The original Blair House was built in 1840, with an addition built in 1876 and a major remodel done in 1920, which Salb said added a lot of detail and character that he and his wife, an architectural designer, hope to restore. Another addition was added in the 1970s on the first floor. That is where the Salbs will eventually live and build a large kitchen for their guests.
The inn, which will be called Spring City Bed and Breakfast, will include four upstairs guestrooms and a room accessible to people with disabilities on the first floor. Salb anticipates attracting parents of Carroll University students, people who are visiting family at Waukesha Memorial Hospital and those who are interested in Waukesha’s history.
Former Waukesha Mayor Henry E. Blair left the home to the city when he died in 1957, specifying that it couldn’t be used for commercial purposes.
In 2013, the city sent out a request for proposals and began the process of selling the property. The Salbs, who restored a 1914 home 20 years ago to live in and raise their children, had been active in the Waukesha Preservation Alliance for several years and often talked about various uses for the Blair Home.
With their children grown, they decided to throw their hat in the ring and submit an RFP.
When word got out that the Salbs were the only people to submit an offer, the process was delayed. A lawsuit was filed by Waukesha Masonic Lodge No. 37 in September 2014, claiming the city violated Blair’s last will and testament.
Waukesha County Circuit Judge Kathryn Foster ruled in favor of the city and dismissed the lodge’s suit. In February, the Waukesha Common Council rezoned the parcel for a bed and breakfast.
“The last two years have been a period of frustration, but we said all along we would stay with it,” Bob Salb said. “The kids are out of the house, we’re still young, double income, and this is what we want to do for the next 20 years.”
