235 Main Street (Racine, Wisconsin)

235 Main Street is the displayed address of a commercial building on Main Street in downtown Racine, Wisconsin. The building's legal address is 233 Main Street, but throughout most of its history it has been known as 235 Main Street, and as of 2020, the building is owned by an organization named 235 Main Street, Inc. The small white brick building, only 595 sqft, was constructed in 1929, to house one of the first locations in the White Tower chain of 24/7 diners. White Tower operated in the building until 1964, and a similar independent restaurant, White Steer, opened the following year. It was first operated as a pizzeria in 1979, and was occupied by De'Pizza Chef from 1985 to 2018. As of 2020, the building is being renovated and expanded into a new pizza restaurant.

The building is one of 73 contributing properties to the, which is listed on the. Along with the Paramount Radio Stores Building at 318 Main Street (also built in 1929), it is one of the newest contributing buildings in the historic district.

History
Around 1901 and 1903, the address was the location of an electric shoe-shining parlor operated by the Leigler Brothers. Another of these parlors was located at 522 Monument Square. It was depicted in the 1908 Sanborn fire insurance map of Racine as the site of a boot-black and horse shed, two of the only wooden frame buildings on a block consisting mostly of larger brick edifices, including the Milwaukee Light, Heat and Traction Company and power plant. In February 1903, the Electric Shining Parlor "stand near Power House" was burglarized by "two youthful characters", who were shown "mercy" in court despite the negative testimony of both boys' fathers.

The site continued to be the location of a boot-black operated by James Vakos around 1913, and by Theophilos & Feliandrianos around 1916. The 1925 Racine City Directory lists the address as the site of a confectionary run by Samuel Galos.

The current building was constructed in 1929, to serve as the location of Racine's second White Tower hamburger restaurant (the first was located at 420 6th Street). After being modernized, the restaurant reopened on September 15, 1947.

Donald Boutell purchased the building on December 22, 1964. The new owners of the restaurant reopened it in March 1965 as White Steer. White Steer was put up for sale in September 1976, and Boutell sold the building to Paul Cortese, then the owner of Paul's Pizzeria at 1300 Grange Avenue, on November 16, 1977. Cortese opened a second Paul's Pizzeria location in the building in 1979. Between May 1 and 2, 1982, both Paul's Pizzeria locations were briefly closed by the city health department after thirteen people were treated for foodborne illness after eating a carryout order of chicken. An investigation was unable to find evidence that food from Paul's was responsible for the illnesses.

Dennis Natale opened Natale's Pizzeria & Italian Sandwich Shoppe in the building in January 1984. The restaurant was known as Pizzaz On The Lakefront as of July 1984, and it was operating under the name De'Pizza Chef by February 1985. Paul Cortese sold the business, which he had operated in some capacity since 1979, shortly before he opened DaVinci's Pizzeria & Restaurant at 4713 Douglas Avenue in September 1990.

In June 2017, Edward Bilotto, the operator of De'Pizza Chef was criminally charged with selling controlled substances from a shed behind the restaurant. The restaurant closed in February 2018, after Bilotto was found guilty and sentenced to one year in jail and five years probation. In April, the building was purchased by Rick Onyon, who already owned Butcher & Barrel Gastropub at 300 Sixth Street, and Ron Christensen. Onyon and Christensen announced their plans to renovate the building and open a new pizza restaurant by fall 2018. Onyon said that his goal was to offer "the best pizza Downtown and the lakefront," but that he would not try to compete with established pizzerias in other parts of the city. As of January 2020, Onyon and Christensen are planning to open White Tower Pizza in the building before the end of the year.