The Racine area is rich with unique history and diverse architecture. That is what Preservation Racine hopes people will take away from the 32nd annual Tour of Historic Places Sunday.

"I always feel like tour day is a great day of pride for the city," said Holly Hess of Preservation Racine. "People feel good about the community and proud of these treasures we have. I want them to be proud that we've been able to preserve that. It leads to a greater appreciation of history and our community."

This year's tour is unique in that it doesn't follow any specific style of building or time period. Instead, it is a wide and varied range of special historic places. The tour will take visitors from a modern city apartment tucked away in Downtown Racine to a sprawling estate that sits on 2 acres.

"It gives an opportunity for people to be made aware of our varying architecture," Hess said of the tour.

What's old is new again

Cindy and Stephen Norovich have a big secret. They live in a beautiful 3,700-square-foot apartment above Monfort's gallery that they literally carved out of the second floor of an old, falling-apart building. Their home at 426 Main St. is part of the Fratt Building, built in 1847, that the Norovichs saved from the wrecking ball.

The building used to house R&W Supply Co. sporting goods store. They sold fishing tackle and all sorts of other things. When the owner died, the building was sold and sat for eight years with rain coming in the roof.

It was slated to be torn down.

"We lived across the street at 433 Main St.," Cindy said. "We were rooting for it to be torn down. It was so awful."

Then Downtown Racine Corp. put a big sign in the nearby vacant lot where Lakeview Pharmacy sat until it burned down in 1991. It said, "Developer wanted."

Suddenly, the building looked like it had more potential.

"We typed up a proposal," Cindy said.

In 1998 Cindy and Stephen Norovich bought the building from the Downtown Racine Corp. The interior of the building was a complete wreck.

"It took three months and untold dumpsters to clean it out," Cindy said. "There was so much junk."

Renovations began and within two years a business spot for a Harry W. Schwartz book store had been created on the main level with a new adjoining coffee shop on the old Lakeview Pharmacy land. The upstairs became Cindy and Stephen's unique home.

They weren't strangers to building a house out of an old building. In the late 1980s, they made a home above the business space at 433 Main St., where the Elegant Pauper is now.

"We drew up a floor plan, acted as general contractors and did it," Cindy said. "This one was a bigger leap of faith."

The apartment is slightly over 3,700-square feet of modern and traditional design with a loft like feel. Exposed Cream City brick, exposed floor joists, and historic windows tell a little bit of the history.

But the warm wood, tile and carpet floors, metal and wood staircases, modern kitchen and bathrooms make it a functional home.

A kitchen, guest bedroom and bathroom, powder room, laundry room and pantry are on one level. A few stairs up one way leads to a dining room and living room. Another set of steps leads to the second floor where the master bedroom and bath and a second bedroom and bath are. Halfway between the first and second floors is an open room that they use as a music room and library. Off the kitchen and up a few steps is an elevated family room. It leads to one of the jewels of the house: a large 2-tier outdoor patio lush with potted trees and plants.

"The patio was the last thing to be finished," Cindy said. "It's like a small back yard."

Although there isn't any grass to cut, Cindy has several hundred pots on the deck containing everything from dogwood and curly willow to evergreen bushes, to perennial and annual flowers.

One section of the patio is covered by a large pergola for shade. Another area holds a large potting and garden bench.

The outdoor area is Cindy's favorite part of the apartment. "It's tucked up here and nobody really expects it," she said. "I like the element of surprise."

She also likes that downtown living allows her to use her car less. "I walk to work," she said. Cindy currently works at Dimples, and will soon start a job at Johnson Bank. "If I need anything, I just have to walk outside."

Hess said the Norovich apartment is a great example of city living that most people don't realize is an option in Racine.

A local celebrity

When you think of touring historic places in the area, Brian and Linda O'Connell's large stone home on Main Street is just the type of home you expect to see.

It's a beautiful old house that most local people not only know by description, but have probably daydreamed about living in. There is a sense of excitement in getting to take a peak inside.

The home at 2326 N. Main St. was built in 1929 for an attorney named Leonard Baumblatt. Linda said they did some research when they moved to the home in 2002. They found out the unique stone home was built by Anton Kratochvil, known best as the architect of Racine's round houses.

"The only thing round in this house is the spiral staircase," Linda said.

They are only the seventh owners of the home. Many of the people who moved into house stayed for quite a while," she said.

It's not a surprise, since there is much to love about the home, Linda said. It's built of concrete block, and they have very deep windows and incredibly thick walls. "It's very quiet," Linda said. "Although we live on Main Street, if you've got the windows closed, you don't hear any traffic."

Arched doorways, leaded glass windows, plaster medallions in the dining room, a domed ceiling and iron grill work in the front rooms are just some of the historic features of the house that the O'Connell's love about their home. "It also has a really neat stone fireplace," Linda said. "Some of the stones have fossils in them."

"It's just a beautiful house," she said. "When we were looking for houses, this just looked really pretty from the street."

The O'Connells moved to Racine from Milwaukee in 2002 when Brian took a job with the city. While house hunting the couple knew that they wanted an older home.

"We've always lived in older houses," Linda said. "You obviously don't have the convenience and amenities that you have in a newer house, but I love that all the rooms aren't a square box. There's different things with the ceilings, little corners here and there that are just beautiful."

The craftsmanship and details of the historic home just can't be duplicated anymore, she said. "I think that's what really appeals to me."

For years many a passerby has admired the Baumblatt home. Linda said people have come up to her to tell her they used to dream about living there when they were children and saw the house while ice skating on the Racine Zoo pond across the street.

Grand visions aside, people are often surprised at the inside of the house, Linda said. "A lot of people thought it had more rooms than it does," she said.

The home has three bedrooms, but all of the rooms in the house are very large. This makes it a great place to entertain. "It can accommodate a lot of people very easily," Linda said.

And there is something special about the home. "It's a very comfortable house," she said. "It gives you a good feeling. One of the things that is really nice is when we have people over they've said, 'I just love this house. It just seems to make people happy.'"

Other tour stops

In addition to the Fratt Building and the Baumblatt House, the Tour of Historic Places will also take visitors through:

The Lowe Estate (c. 1931), 6231 Northwestern Ave.

The home was built for Samuel E. Lowe, who began writing children's books as a social worker in New York. That work brought him to Racine where he continued writing and eventually became president of Whitman Publishing. In 1940, he left Whitman to start the Samuel Lowe Company in Kenosha. The Lowe Estate, a 5,000-square-foot Georgian Colonial designed by Lindl and Schutte Inc. of Racine sits on two acres and features three fireplaces, six bedrooms, three full baths, a living room, grand reception hall, sun room, butler's pantry, library and more.

The Guilbert House (1929), 3001 Michigan Blvd.

The Guilbert House was home to Gordon Guilbert and his wife Margaret. Guilbert was district vice president for Twin Disc Clutch Company. The Neo-Tudor style house sits on a beautiful lot facing Lake Michigan. While the home's architect is no known, Guilbert's father, A. Arthur Guilbert, was a prominent Racine architect whose firm, Guilbert and Funston, designed several prominent structures throughout Racine.

The Burdick House (c. 1877), 4830 Lighthouse Drive

This lovely two story frame and masonry house expands in segments into its peaceful setting where Lighthouse Drive bends into 4 Mile Road. The current owners were married here when it was home to the bride's parents. The newlyweds moved into the house in 1961 and have lovingly cared for it ever since.

The Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts (c. 1844), 2519 Northwestern Ave.

The museum was originally known as the Walker Place, a clapboard Greek Revival farmhouse built for James Walker, who squatted the 160-acre claim in 1835. In 1893, the house was sold to the Wustum family, eventually being acquired by Charles Wustum and his wife Jennie. The Wustums had many business interests in Racine including selling milk to their friends, the Horlicks, for use in their malted milk factory just a few blocks east. Jennie Wustum left the house and twelve acres to the city of Racine as a fine arts museum in memory of her husband.

During the tour, Wustum Museum will exhibit a private collection of Racine silver plate made by the Racine Silver Plate Company, in business in Racine for just seven years, from 1875 until the historic fire of 1882 that wiped out several businesses in downtown Racine. The collection will be on exhibit on tour day only.

If You Go

WHAT: The 32nd annual Tour of Historic Places will take visitors on a journey through six homes from the 1840's to 1930's, from Downtown Racine to a country estate.

WHEN: Noon to 5:30 p.m. Sunday

ADMISSION: Tickets are $10 in advance and are available by calling (262) 634-5748. Tickets will be sold at Prairie School on the day of the tour for $12 each. For a complete list of ticket outlets, visit

http://www.preservationracine.org