Big, Bold, and Beautiful City Halls

Milwaukee: With a design uniquely inspired by the Flemish Renaissance, Milwaukee’s City Hall is a breathtaking building both inside and out. Built in 1895 at a cost of $1 million, the City Hall has mosaic and marble flooring and was one of the first to feature an extensive open atrium. The building was completely renovated in 2008 at a cost of $66 million, and was declared a national historic landmark in 2004. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons) [source]

Why Visit Milwaukee?

From Twenty-Something Travel:

• Old Fashioneds
• Al Fresco Dining
• Harley Davidson
• Cool Architecture
• The Milwaukee Art Museum
• German Culture
• Summerfest

Glass Boxes As "Iconic" Architecture

Maybe some of the professors from the School of Architecture need to provide UWM Chancellor Mike Lowell some information regarding the buildings that make up the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus.

In a recent article, UW-Milwaukee Launches Research Center Construction, Chancellor Lowell (regarding the Kenwood Interdisciplinary Research Center, which will house the physics department) commented:

It's going to be a gateway to campus from the south on Maryland Avenue," Lovell said of the glassy five-story building. "We really don't have any iconic buildings on campus to showcase. This will be iconic.

Here's a refresher on some of the already iconic buildings on the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus.

From an OnMilwaukee article:

Downer College, Hartford and Downer Avenues...Merrill Hall's battlemented tower and the ornate decoration above the entrance to Johnston Hall. Designed by Alexander Eschweiler and executed in red sandstone, terra cotta and brick.

Waymarking details:

MILWAUKEE-DOWNER COLLEGE, 2512 E. Hartford Ave., is a private school for women. Its eleven red-brick buildings in Tudor Gothic design stand on a wooded campus of 50 acres. In 1895 the school was founded through coalition of Milwaukee College, chartered under the auspices of the Congregational Church in 1851, and Downer College, chartered in 1855 at Fox Lake, Wisconsin. Milwaukee College, which had been started in 1848 as the Milwaukee Female Seminary, was reorganized in 1851 through the efforts of Catherine Beecher, sister of Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, and of Henry Ward Beecher, abolitionist author and preacher. Although primarily a liberal arts college, Milwaukee-Downer has pioneered in art, home economics, and occupational therapy. ---Wisconsin, A Guide to the Badger State, 1941 

Today the college is part of the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. The Milwaukee-Downer moved to Appleton and joined with Lawrence College when UW purchased this property.

The Milwaukee-Downer "Quad" NRHP on the campus of UW-Milwaukee, at the corner of Hartford and Downer. This view is looking north at Merrill Hall (architect Howland Russel), with Johnston Hall (architect Alexander C. Eschweiler) to the right. Holton Hall is out of view to the left. [source]

Chapman Hall 2310 East Hartford Ave

Excellent example of Collegiate Gothic architecture. A large tower rises above the mutil-gabled building, which is faced with russet brick and brown sandstone trim. [source]

[source]

Sabin Hall 3413 North Downer Ave

Collegiate Gothic structure constructed of red-brown brick and sandstone.

Vogel Hall 3253 North Downer Ave

Red-brown brick college building designed in the English Tudor mode. Architect: Eschweiler & Eschweiler. [source]

Zelazo Center 2419 East Kenwood Blvd

Neo-classical synagogue with a cut Indiana limestone exterior. [source]

Mitchell Hall 3203 North Downer Ave

Educational building contructed in the Neoclassical Style, which was popular in public and institutional architecture of the early 20th century. The facade is red brick with contrasting trim and colonnade. [source]

Merrill Hall 2512 East Hartford Ave

Hefter Conference Center 3271 North Lake Dr

Mansion designed in a restrained Elizabethan mode; constructed of brown brick with stone trim. Architect: Fitzhugh Scott. [source]

Alumni House 3230 East Kenwood Blvd.

Constructed of Plymouth Stone Ashlar and a slate shingle roof. Outstanding Tudor mansion whose design adheres closely to historic precedent. The house is especially notable for the quality of materials and worksmanship, evident in the Plymouth stone walls, slate roof, carved stone trim, ornamental leaded glass, interior woodwork, and hand wrought hardware. Architect: McDonald Mayer and Fitzhugh Scott. [source]

For Further Reading:
Alexander C. Eschweiler, designer of HWTN homes and iconic Milwaukee buildings
UWM Building Directory 
UWM Projects & Planning

Historic Milwaukee Architecture

Photo Wisconsin Historical Society

Designed by H.A. Betts (1907) and Herman Buemming (1919) in the Elizabethan Revival style, the exterior of the home is limestone with a green glazed tile roof. 

Elizabethan Revival occurred initially in the 1830s, with a second revival around the 1920s. It's precedents are the architecture predominant during "the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England (1558-1603), regarded as within the last phase of the Tudor period, but showing the influence of European Renaissance styles, though often somewhat provincial in treatment...Late Gothic features such as large mullioned and transomed windows, the E-shaped late Tudor plan, elaborate upperworks such as arrays of tall chimneys, turrets, etc., and even the occasional spire, were mixed promiscuously with the Orders, much strapwork, grotesque ornament, and obelisks...Elizabethan architecture was often ebullient, notably in chimney-pieces, frontis-pieces, and funerary monuments." (Oxford Dictionary of Architecture)

Elements of Jacobean architecture are also evident. This refers to the "reign of King James I and VI (1603-25), not greatly differing from Elizabethan architecture, and largely continuing in the reign of Charles I (1625-49)...Essentially a melange of Flemish, French, and Italian Renaissance influences." (Oxford Dictionary of Architecture)

The combination of Elizabethan and Jacobean architecture is sometimes referred to as Jacobethan.

As Richard Perrin notes, "Scalloped gable ends are characteristic of the Jacobean period at the tail end of the Tudor period."

A Milwaukee Sentinel article from March 22, 1908 stated, "This building is of old English Style of architecture and it is expected will introduce this style generally to Milwaukee."

[North Point Historic Districts - Milwaukee. Shirley du Fresne McArthur]

Historic Milwaukee Architecture

Photo courtesy of Wisconsin Historical Society

The website Milwaukee Architecture explains, "Said to be Frank Lloyd Wright's only important residential project in Milwaukee (Zimmermann) this house embodies Wright's prairie style elements into a somewhat heavy massive look. At the time he was working on the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo as well. The buff brick is combined with cast concrete and leaded glass. Wright was also producing a line of pre-fab houses at the same time."

Praire School Traveler states, "A distinctive brick residence with five bedrooms, stylistically related to the German Warehouse, both of which incorporate cast concrete ornament and presage Wright’s California works such as the Barnsdall (“Hollyhock”) House."

Mary Ann Sullivan informs, "This house has some of the characteristic features of the Prairie style--horizontality, a low-pitched roof with wide eaves, and rows of leaded-glass windows. Like many of Wright's houses, this residence does not have an entrance in the front facade; the main entrance is from the driveway on the north side."

As the National Park Service details, "This house was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and executed under his supervision. It was built in 1916-1917, in the so-called Japanese years of Wright's career. The building has been designated a Milwaukee landmark ... The wall material is a tan tapestry brick and trimmed with precast concrete. The brickwork has wide, raked horizontal mortar joints and tinted and filled vertical joints. The building presents typical Wright details in the strong horizontal lines, geometric patterns, deep-set windows, and wide overhanging eaves. The lintels, sills, and capstones are precast concrete. The wooden windows and trim are painted a "Wright red."

For Further Reading:
North Point North

Milwaukee Architecture

The National Trust For Historic Preservation has listed Milwaukee's Soldiers Home on the 2011 list of most endangered historic places. The campus hosts two renowned Milwaukee architects' designs. H.C. Koch and Edward Townsend Mix.

The V.A Hospital was designed by H.C. Koch & Co. in Italianate style in 1879.

H.C. Koch and Edward Townsend Mix, together, designed the Ward Memorial Hall in the Gothic Revival style in 1881.

The main building built in 1869 was designed by Edward Townsend Mix in the Second Empire style.

For Further Reading:

Soldiers Home Foundation

The (Coming) Razings

"The White House says 'Both programs [Save America's Treasures and Preserve America] lack rigorous performance metrics and evaluation efforts so the benefits are unclear.' ... Except that isn't true, there are performance metrics, that prove that the programs created jobs at 1/18th the cost of last year's stimulus programs."

Obama Cancels Building Restoration Programs.

For some to still claim Barack Obama is a socialist, or even a liberal, they really haven't been paying attention. Barack has acquiesced to the Rubin Wall Street cabal in record-breaking, Olympic fashion. The pettiness and mean-spiritedness of these budget cut items (as well as many others) are slaps in the face of the "liberals" that mobilized in record numbers and got President Obama elected.

The conciliation and/or foot-dragging by the Obama Administration is thoroughly disappointing.

For Further Reading:
Congress Will Pay For What It Spends
Democracy Now: Robert Kuttner & Michael Hudson on the Obama Adminsitration
Obama Loves Business
Obama Shares Wall Street's Delusions
Wall Street's Killer Instinct Spells Death Knell For Jobs
What Does The Prez Stand For?

Eschweiler & Milwaukee Architecture

Kudos to Chris Liebenthal, of Cognitive Dissidence and Milwaukee County First, for illuminating the sorry shape of the County's Eschweiler buildings.

Milwaukee has a treasure trove of historically significant architecture. For us to willfully sit by as they disintegrate is sad and shameful.

For Further Reading:
Eschweiler Buildings
Historic Milwaukee Architecture 1, 2, 3
Milwaukee Architecture

Here's a few more examples of Eschweiler architecture:

Historic Milwaukee Architecture

The residence above is a Tudor Revival. The name is in reference to the Tudor dynasty, which reigned from 1485 to 1603. In America, this was a popular style between 1890 and 1940. The style is based on English Renaissance architecture from folk houses and Late Medieval mansions; sometimes containing Craftsman trademarks.

Within the Tudor style, there are sub-styles - Jacobean (1603-1625), Elizabethan (1558-1603), etc. This particular dwelling, built in 1912, was designed by Ferry & Clas. It's Tudor elements include: half-timbering, facade with cross gables, exposed rafters, and arched entryway.

Historic Milwaukee Architecture

The residence above is a Georgian Colonial Revival. The name is in reference to the Georgian Period (George I through IV; 1714-1830). In America, this was a popular style from the 1890s to the 1930s. This style tips it's hat to sixteenth century Italian architecture. Many other fine examples abound in Milwaukee's Upper East Side and North Point.

This particular dwelling was built in 1901; designed by notable Milwaukee architects George Bowman Ferry and Alfred Clas. Common colonial elements, and some particular embellishments, present in this example are: symmetrical facade, keystones above the windows, quoins accentuating the exterior corners, modillioned cornice, red brick and white trim, front door sidelights, roof balustrade encompassing a roof-top deck, and a marble-tread front stair.

Historic Milwaukee Architecture

This is the first in a periodic series of Milwaukee residential architectural gems. Milwaukee has an assortment of historically significant home styles. I will showcase some of the more elaborate and stylistically-accurate examples Milwaukee has to offer.

The residence above is of the Victorian persuasion. The name is in reference to Britain's Queen Victoria, whom reigned from 1837 to 1901. In America, this was a popular style between 1860 and 1900. This was also an era of growing industrialization, which allowed the mass production of doors, windows, roofing, siding, and decorative detailing.

Within the Victorian style, there are many sub-styles. This particular dwelling, built in 1886, has many Queen Anne elements. Such as: the asymmetrical facade, the (nearly) full-width porch, cross-gabled roof, the square tower extending above the entryway (although typically at a corner of the front facade), decorative spindlework balustrades, the bay window, and the spindlework frieze of the front porch.