RELATED: Inside the Mary Nohl House Controversy
Mary Nohl’s artwork and iconic house will now have a more secure place in Fox Point along picturesque Beach Drive, and village residents will have increased access to Nohl’s artistry.
On a 6-1 vote Tuesday night, the Village Board approved designating the house at 7358 N. Beach Dr. and an adjoining property as a “cultural overlay district.” The property can be used as an art gallery, museum or library.
In the new designation, general visitors, including up to 20 art scholars, teachers and students per day, may visit the house three days a week. Village residents and their guests also will be able to tour the house in groups of 10 with advanced reservations. In addition, two special events having no more than 60 people each time may be held at the house annually, subject to village approval.
Often dubbed the “witch’s house,” the Nohl house is surrounded by concrete busts, along with sculptures of anthropomorphized fish and animals she made. For decades, Beach Drive residents have claimed that their privacy was breached by unwelcome visitors – art aficionados and unruly teenagers alike.
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Last December, the John Michael Kohler Arts Center asked Fox Point for the cultural overlay designation that would allow an increase in the number of sanctioned visitors to the property. Nearby residents, however, complained that the increase would turn the property into an intrusive public museum in a residential area.
The village’s cultural district ordinance specifies that the property’s use cannot depreciate the property values in the immediate neighborhood nor adversely affect nearby homes.
Nohl died in 2001 and left her $11 million estate to the Kohler Foundation.
At the hour-long debate Tuesday, April 11, the incoming village president argued that the Nohl house is zoned single-family and can host parties and fundraisers.
“I’m allowed to shoot off fireworks,” with village permission, said Christine Symchych about parties at her house. “But with a cultural zoning district, the village will have guidelines and remedies if there are issues.”
And thus, she favored the designation.
Douglas Frazer, the outgoing village president, maintained that the Nohl house is a cultural asset for the village and the wider community. Visits to the property will be delineated and controlled, and the new zoning will enhance the house’s co-existence with the neighbors.
Frazer called the compromise that lawyer John M. Wirth and Kohler interests crafted as “reasonable,” adding,”While not perfect, perfection is unattainable.”
Trustee Eric Fonstad, who lives across the street from the Nohl property, was the sole dissenter. He spoke for 40 minutes and argued that because the compromise was submitted to the village after an earlier public hearing, another hearing was needed.
The village trustees “must look at the provisions that are most disruptive and decide if they are acceptable,” he said.
He asked that the Village Board re-examine the Nohl house’s proposed hours of operation, the noise limits and the number of allowed visitors. He made a motion that the board separately consider these factors, but on a 5-2 vote, the board rejected the motion. Trustee Elizabeth Aelion supported Fonstad’s motion.
The public was not allowed to speak Tuesday night. Comments were closed because the village had held a two-night public hearing on the zoning change and had taken a slew of letters and e-mails on the subject.
Some Beach Drive residents, though, attended the meeting, including Amy Levin. At a January Plan Commission meeting on the zoning change, her husband, Mark, insisted that the change would add traffic to the area and endanger his three children. The commission, on a 3-2 vote, recommended accepting the zoning change. At the end of the meeting, Mark Levin consoled his 10-year-old daughter, who was crying about the recommendation.
“I’m sorry, kiddo,” he told her. “We tried.”
