232 Main Street (Racine, Wisconsin)

232 Main Street is the address of a commercial building on Main Street in downtown Racine, Wisconsin. The two-story building was constructed in 1887 by O.B. Schulz for his Vienna Bakery. From 1909 to 1963, the building was home to a series of taverns (although during, between 1920 and 1933, it was operated as a cigar store). After the Downtowner Tavern's liquor license was revoked in 1963, the building's storefront was unused for decades and its upstairs apartments fell into disrepair. After partially collapsing in 1985, the building was repaired and renovated, and returned to business use in 1988.

O.B. Schulz's Vienna Bakery (1887–1907)
The current building at 232 Main Street was built in 1887. Its original owner, O.B. Schulz, operated the Vienna Bakery, ice cream parlor, and soda fountain on the first floor, and rented out offices on the second floor. The Vienna Bakery opened in June 1887, moving from its former location at 912 St. Clair Street, where it had operated since 1882. Schulz's bakery also had a branch store at 1113 Villa Street. In October 1907, Schulz's bakery relocated to 526 Wisconsin Street.

Topaz, Super Bar, Downtowner Tavern (1909–1963)
Fred C. Thomas applied for a license to operate a tavern at 232 Main Street in June 1909. Thomas opened The Topaz, a "ladies' and gent's cafe", in the building later that year. On April 24, 1918, the Topaz saloon's awning was burned away, apparently the result of a cigarette thrown from a second-story window. The fire spread to the Matt Summers saloon next door at 230 Main Street, burning the other building's awning and damaging its facade.

Louis Duchmann and Harry Greninger operated the Topaz Arcade tavern in 1920. On June 30, 1920, the building was damaged when a stock of Fourth of July fireworks caught fire, causing no serious injuries. During, Duchmann and Greninger operated the Topaz Arcade as a cigar store. On December 9, 1933, a few days after the repeal of Prohibition, Duchmann and Greninger held a "Grand Liquor Opening" at the arcade, offering beer and liquor at "pre-war prices". On December 21, 1943, two 28-year-old Racine men stole 27 bottles of liquor from the tavern to sell, and were sentenced to hard labor in the county jail. The tavern reopened as the Topaz Lunch Bar in January 1945.

On July 1, 1947, Richard Mann and Melvin Feil were granted a license to operate the Topaz Tavern, which had been sold to them by the previous owner Charles Kaiserlian, and the Lee Dolf tavern at 1814 16th Street. Mayor Francis Wendt and alderman David Richter attempted to block the licenses because Mann had been convicted for operating gambling at his pool hall at 1318 Washington Avenue in 1943, but the licenses were granted despite the objections. Two days later, the tavern reopened as the Super Bar. In November 1949, Feil was charged for "permitting a minor to linger in his tavern" and pled guilty, and was fined $150. Feil was charged again in December 1951 for "diluting whisky and refilling whisky bottles".

The Downtowner Tavern replaced the Super Bar by March 1952, when it held a party. In April 1954, the tavern's license was temporarily revoked after the City Council discovered that Lloyd Berg, one of the tavern operators, had not been a Racine resident for at least two years and thus did not meet the license qualifications. On the night of March 25, 1955, two men were arrested on suspicion of stealing $1,000 from the Downtowner. In addition to the tavern, 232 Main Street was also home to Berg & Feil Construction Company, which was operated by the tavern owners Melvin Feil and Lloyd Berg. After Feil's death in a plane crash in April 1955, the construction company filed for bankruptcy in October 1955.

Louis Hegemen, the owner of the Downtowner in 1957, faced two court charges for "permitting a minor to linger and loiter" in the tavern in August and December of that year, and again in September 1958. In July 1961, Hegeman pled guilty to a violation of the "30 day liquor payment law," after purchasing "alcoholic beverages from one dealer without paying for a supply purchased 283 days earlier from another dealer," for which he was fined $25 in Municipal Court. The Downtowner celebrated its sixth anniversary under Hegeman's ownership on October 3, 1961. On September 8, 1962, a in the building's upstairs apartment caught fire after a lit cigarette was discarded.

Vacancy, collapse, and restoration (1963–1988)
Howard A. Merrett took over ownership of the Downtowner on May 21, 1963, and less than 48 hours later was charged with serving alcohol to minors. The City Council license committee refused to renew Merrett's license, which would expire on July 1. By 1966, the ground floor had been vacant since the Downtowner's closure, but the upstairs apartments were still occupied. A fire damaged the building on October 10, 1966.

The building's storefront space remained empty for over two decades. In February 1983, the Downtown Racine Redevelopment Corporation offered to acquire the derelict building from its owner, Mary Kaprelian, as part of a project which led to the construction of the Shoop Public Parking Ramp. While Kaprelian was described as "enthusiastic" about the project, she refused to sell the building, and set out to renovate and restore it with its co-owner David Azarian. On December 10, 1985, during the construction of the parking ramp, the rear half of the building collapsed into the alleyway. No one was harmed in the collapse, but Azarian said it was only by happenstance that he wasn't inside the building at the time. Associated Industrial Contractors, the construction company responsible for building the parking ramp, said it had taken "every precaution" to prevent damage to nearby buildings. Azarian sued the company for damages in August 1986, and he and Kaprelian continued to renovate the building, completing the project in 1988.

Recent history (1988–present)
The first business occupant at 232 Main Street after the renovation was A Touch of Glass, a stained glass and hand-blown glass art supply store which opened before the end of 1988. Pam Brefka and Richard Worrell opened Shear Madness, a hair salon, in the building in January 1993.

The Main Credentials salon was located in the building before 2017, when it moved to 309 Main Street. Little Glass Bird Artful Objects, an art gallery, opened in the building in December 2017. On March 27, 2020, Little Glass Bird owner Lori Lund sold the building to Pensio Libertas LLC of Santa Monica, California.