Hotel Grafton Apartments: a leasing site for an 1892 landmark

Challenge

Hotel Grafton is a three-story brick hotel on Wisconsin Avenue in downtown Grafton. It opened in 1892. Today it holds twenty apartments, and no two are the same.

That gives the site two jobs. Someone looking for a place needs to see what’s opening up and when. And the building has a story worth telling, because Grafton almost lost it.

Build

Availability comes first. The home page lists the floor plans that are opening up and the month each one is ready. An “Availability” link sits at the top and bottom of every page and jumps straight to that list.

Every apartment has its own page. All twenty are grouped by type: studio, one bedroom, one bedroom plus den, and two bedroom. Each one gets a page with photos, square footage, and the answers people ask for first, like parking, storage, utilities and pet rules.

Applying takes one tap. Each apartment page has an “Apply Now” button that opens the online application. The contact form asks for a move-in date and a floor plan, so the owners know what a renter wants before they call back.

The history gets a full page. It starts in 1889, when Milwaukee architects Wiskocil & Schutz designed a 30-room hotel for Grafton businessman Edward Mueller. It covers the cream city brick and local limestone, the years the building fell into disrepair, and the Village of Grafton buying it in 2008 when there was talk of tearing it down. Then it follows the renovation into apartments, with residents moving in in 2012. Old photos of the square and shots from the construction run alongside.

A photo gallery shows the building and the apartments in one place.

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