From:	Brooke Frizzell <frizzellbrooke@gmail.com>
Sent:	Friday, July 8, 2022 4:38 PM
To:	Elmer, Linda
Subject:	RE: In support of HPC file #220279 St. Mark's Church Certificate of 
Appropriateness


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Dear Historic Preservation Commission, 

I write on behalf of St. Mark's Episcopal Church to request that you issue a certificate of 
appropriateness for the proposed demolition and reconstruction of the St. Mark's parish hall and 
for the construction of the adjacent apartment building. I currently serve as the senior warden of 
the Vestry, which is the Episcopal term for president of the board of directors. Our rector (head 
pastor) is currently on a well-earned sabbatical, and I am in charge of governance and financial 
matters in his absence. 

The Vestry of St. Mark's has not undertaken this project lightly. The process began a number of 
years ago, when we realized how much money we were pouring into basic maintenance of our 
parish hall. We initially sought to embark upon a traditional capital campaign to finance repairs 
of the building, but during that process, we discovered that the cost to make our building what it 
needs to be far exceeded our ability to raise money from within our parish.

Although it is a County property, I am sure most of you are familiar with the difficult situation 
the Milwaukee Public Museum has faced in recent years. Our situation is not unlike theirs, and it 
has become clear that replacing, rather than repairing, our current building is the best course of 
action. As an example, our commercial dishwasher broke several years ago. Commercial 
dishwashers run about $6,000 to $8,000, which is not cheap but is a manageable expense for a 
parish of our size. However, our plumbing and electrical had to be brought up to code in order to 
replace the dishwasher. In order to bring the plumbing and electrical up to code, we had to cut 
into the kitchen floor. As you might expect from a building constructed in the 1940s, the floor 
was made of asbestos and required professional remediation. $35,000 later, we had a new 
dishwasher and a new kitchen floor. Every repair we face has been some version of this story. 
Several years ago, we explored updating our restrooms to be ADA accessible, but doing so was 
simply cost prohibitive. Neither our second floor nor our basement are accessible to anyone with 
mobility limitations, and our only accessible entrance is at the back of a very unattractive surface 
parking lot. Our nursery is upstairs, which means any parents or grandparents with mobility 
limitations may struggle to take their children up there. Alcoholics Anonymous meets upstairs, 
which means anyone needing their support must be able to climb stairs.

After much thought, discussion, and prayer, the Vestry concluded that the best path forward was 
to sell our open space, which is not currently used to its full potential, and use the proceeds of 
such a sale to partially finance the construction of a new parish hall. We chose the partners we 
did because they are local to the neighborhood and have thoughtful plans for both the parish hall 
and the new apartment building.

Others can speak more eloquently on the design elements of the new building, as evidenced by 
the staff report supporting this application. But to my eye, I believe great care has been put into 
making sure both buildings fit within the aesthetics of the historic neighborhood. People may 
have subjective disagreements with design elements, but I believe any reasonable person would 
agree that the architect has taken great care to make sure the new buildings will be sympathetic 
with the old buildings and has followed the guidelines for new construction.

St. Mark's seeks to be a good neighbor to the Downer Ave. area. We house the offices of 
Eastside Senior Services at no charge. We regularly work with Kinship Community Food Center, 
The Gathering, and Milwaukee Diaper Mission to serve the material needs of our community. 
Our parish is a member of Common Ground, which seeks to effect social change throughout 
Milwaukee. We strive to be a welcoming and inclusive community to our LGBTQ+ members 
and visitors, as we know many of these members have faced discrimination and hate in the name 
of religion.

However, if we continue to be saddled with our aging building, our time, energy, and money will 
go toward maintaining a building that I doubt many people even find particularly attractive. We 
would rather spend our time, energy, and money serving the spiritual needs of our parishioners 
and working toward justice in the broader community.

A number of objections have been raised regarding this project that are outside the purview of 
this Commission. Nevertheless, I will briefly address the parking concerns that have been raised. 
We intend to have two disabled spots on the north side of the building. Although we have not yet 
signed a contract, we are in talks with Secure Parking about a contract that would provide 
parking for our members. This would likely alleviate competition for street parking during 
church hours even from what it is now, as our current parking lot of 15 spots does not 
accommodate our average Sunday attendance.

This proposal is the best way to preserve St. Mark's future in the community while also 
respecting the aesthetics of the existing buildings. I will be at Monday's meeting, and I will be 
happy to answer any questions that you have to the best of my ability.

Sincerely,
Brooke Frizzell
Senior Warden, St. Mark's Episcopal Church