Milwaukee Architecture

Odds and Ends »

Dr. Steven Reyer is not an architect, but rather a Professor of Electrical Engineering at the Milwaukee School of Engineering, who happens to have an interest in Milwaukee and its past. Please email him any comments you have regarding this effort.

If you are interested in learning more about Milwaukee architecture, please check out these books: H. Russell Zimmermann, "The Heritage Guidebook" and Joseph Korom, "Milwaukee Architecture."

NOTE: Periodic remodelings and paintings may change a building's appearance. If a building photo appears seriously out of date, contact Dr. Reyer and he will do his best to get an updated photo. Still prefer the old website appearance? Here it is.

How about a walking tour of Downtown? Here are indexed maps of the East Side and West Side. Print them out and take them along.

Historic Milwaukee Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting interest in Milwaukee buildings and the city's past, also offers guided tours and sell a cassette audio tape for self-directed tours.

Here are several panorama views of Milwaukee's skyline. Be sure to scroll as needed to see the whole photo.

It's probably obvious where I stood for the Lakefront photo -- on the landfill area next to the seawall (in Veterans Park), off of the Art Center. For the NW of Downtown shot, I was on the pedestrian overpass above the Park Freeway (when the freeway was still there). It was a little tricky shooting through the fence! For the one from the south, I was at the north end of Bay View Park, near E. Oklahoma Ave. and S. Superior St.

• Extremely wide skyline from the Lakefront. (207 KB, size: 4798 x 400)
• Skyline from northwest of Downtown. (83 KB, size: 1452 x 400)
• Skyline from south of Downtown. (74 KB, size: 1379 x 400)

Cream City Brick

Milwaukee is sometimes called the "Cream City." This isn't a reference to the dairy industry, but rather to the color of the brick used to build many early buildings. The particular type of clay found in the area was heavily used in 1800s and early 1900s brickmaking.

The creamy color was in big demand, not only in Milwaukee but around the midwest and beyond. Some Cream City brick buildings are now a bit dirty, but many have been cleaned and some painted. As you tour the city you'll see many of them. The Blatz Brewery Residences is one.

Harp Lights

For many years these decorative Harp Lights served as street lights for the City of Milwaukee and some suburbs.

Now almost extinct, replicas (shown here, from AmeriLite) now dot various neighborhoods.

Some can be seen near the Milwaukee School of Engineering on Kilbourn Avenue near Jefferson Street.

Cyril Colnik

Born in Austria, Cyril Colnik (1871-1958) was a renowned blacksmith who got his education at the Munich Industrial Art School. Having achieved recognition as a gifted student, Colnik was selected to go to Chicago along with the German ironworking team for the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893.

Upon viewing his work, Captain Frederick Pabst convinced Colnik to settle in Milwaukee pointing to the many commissions the craftsman would likely glean because of his great talent, and the hospitable German-speaking community.

As it turned out, Pabst was absolutely right. Colnik settled in Milwaukee where he opened a successful studio and worked until his retirement in 1955.

Colnik was chosen to do elaborate wrought iron work on many fine Milwaukee homes and commercial buildings, such as Villa Terrace.