Helmut "Mike" Ajango (November 30, 1931 – November 15, 2013) was an

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

n-born architect based in

Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin Fort Atkinson is a city in Jefferson County, Wisconsin, United States. It lies along the Rock River (Illinois), Rock River a few miles upstream from Lake Koshkonong. The population was 12,579 at the 2020 census. Fort Atkinson is the largest city ...

in the United States.Creative mind behind Fireside, Gobbler Fort architect Ajango dead
November 18, 2013 Daily Jefferson County Union
Madison.com He designed more than 175 churches in southern

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

as well as

Fireside Dinner Theatre Fireside Dinner Theater is a historic dinner theater and special events venue in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin Fort Atkinson is a city in Jefferson County, Wisconsin, United States. It lies along the Rock River (Illinois), Rock River a few miles u ...

(1964) and The Gobbler. His work has been described as combining

Mid-Century Modern architecture Mid-century modern (MCM) is a movement in interior design, product design, graphic design, architecture and urban development that was present in all the world, but more popular in North America, Brazil and Europe from roughly 1945 to 1970 during ...

and

Prairie Architecture Prairie School is a late 19th and early 20th-century architectural style, most common in the Midwestern United States. The style is usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped i ...

. Fellow Fort Atkinson architect Gene LaMuro worked with Ajango on some of his projects. Ajango was born in

Võru Võru (; ; ) is a town and a municipality in south-eastern Estonia. It is the capital of Võru County and the centre of Võru Parish. History Võru was founded on 21 August 1784, at the request of the Empress Catherine II of Russia, by the o ...

and fled with his family in 1944 to Germany when the Red Army returned to resume the Soviet occupation that had begun in 1939. In 1949, the family immigrated to the United States. Ajango graduated from

Wittenberg University Wittenberg University (officially Wittenberg College) is a private liberal arts college in Springfield, Ohio. It has 1,326 full-time students drawn from 33 states and 9 foreign countries. Wittenberg University is associated with the Evangelical ...

(1953) after studying art and mathematics and from

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

(1958) with an architectural degree. He served in the U.S. Army including as a

meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists ...

for artillery during the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

. When he returned home he became a naturalized U.S. citizen. He established his architectural firm in Fort Atkinson in 1962. He studied architecture in Europe for six months on a Plym Fellowship from the University of Illinois in 1966. Ajango won the Milwaukee Inner City North Avenue Redevelopment Project Architectural Competition, in 1999 to redesign the buildings on one side of a city block. He bought the Faith Community Church building on Main Street and converted it into apartments. He and his wife Martha had three children. He was a member of the United Brotherhood of Christ congregation in Fort Atkinson. He was a

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

fan.

Works

, Fort Atkinson, WI (1964) * Dekorra Lutheran Church in

Dekorra, Wisconsin Dekorra is a town in Columbia County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 2,350 at the 2000 census. History Native American Indians originally lived in the area. The town was laid out in 1836 when settlers from Kentucky came to the area ...

(1971) * Gobbler Supper Club and Motel in

Johnson Creek, Wisconsin Johnson Creek is a village in Jefferson County, Wisconsin, Jefferson County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 3,318 at the 2020 census. The village is approximately halfway between Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin, Madison, at the inte ...

* Monument to those murdered by the occupying Russian Army in 1942 in

Tartu, Estonia Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,759 (as of 2024). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the ...

dedicated in 2001 (after a construction delay) * Mount Pleasant Church in

Racine, Wisconsin Racine ( ) is a city in Racine County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the shore of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Root River (Wisconsin), Root River, south of Milwaukee and north of Chicago. It is the List ...

* Evansville High School (Wisconsin) * Water Tower Place office building on

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...

's Monona Drive * Manchester Building on the square in Madison * Hoard Historical Museum expansion and renovation * Mack building and Wilson building renovation * Fort Atkinson Municipal Building in downtown Fort Atkinson * First Federal Building redesign into Fort Atkinson Area Chamber of Commerce office * Bank of Fort Atkinson expansion and renovation (first), now Johnson Bank * Black Hawk Hotel conversion for senior housing * Nasco additions * Shalom Presbyterian Church redesign and renovation (became Grace United Church, Ajango's congregation) Wisconsin Conference United Church of Christ 50th Anniversary
page B 18 * Wading pool shade cover at the original Fort Atkinson municipal pool * Assisted with the dome park shelter at Rock River Park * Helped develop the chamber of commerce's ''Fort Atkinson: City of Progress'' brochure * Designed staging and sets for the Fort Atkinson Community Theatre * Wrote and distributed a civil defense survey * Designed the Fort Atkinson bypass * Designed signs for chamber of commerce and municipal building * Restrooms in Ralph Park * Community-built house for a former chamber tourism director.

Works

See also

References

Further reading