milwaukee neighborhood guide: avenues …...→ pabst mansion where: 2000 w. wisconsin ave. the most...
TRANSCRIPT
Photo by Austin Anderson (AA Photography)
MILWAUKEE NEIGHBORHOOD
GUIDE: AVENUES WEST D O M I N I C I N O U Y E J U L Y 2 1 , 2 0 1 7
Welcome to Milwaukee’s Avenues West, a neighborhood born of contrasts in the late
1800s: the grandeur of mansion-lined Grand Avenue, the poverty of Irish workers on
Tory Hill, and the ambition of a little college named Marquette. A neighborhood, like
so many in Milwaukee, poised for change.
Photo by Austin Anderson (AA Photography)
History
Just west of downtown, Avenues West runs from 11th to 27th Streets, Highland Avenue to Clybourn
Street — or, using the most obvious landmark, it is the northwest quadrant of the Marquette
Interchange. This neighborhood has been a study in contrasts since its inception in the late 1800s.
Milwaukee’s elite gravitated west along Spring Street in the 1870s, so many that by 1876 the
thoroughfare was renamed “Grand Avenue.” Mansions owned by Cudahy, Plankington, and Pabst
contrasted with the Tory Hill homes of the primarily Irish workers of the Menomonee Valley. The
city experienced a population boom, money started moving outside the city, and mansions became
apartments or multi-family dwellings. The Gothic parish Church, Gesu, arrived in 1894; Marquette
became a university in 1907; the Irish began moving to Merrill Park and other residents took their
place: Eastern Europeans first, then Latinos and African Americans. When the city expanded farther
west during the first part of the century and Grand Avenue became “Wisconsin Avenue,” new
institutions like the Ambassador Hotel and the Eagles Club helped keep up appearances, unwittingly
or not emphasizing the contrasts. The 1960s construction of the Marquette Interchange cemented
Avenues West as a distinct neighborhood, where contrasts co-existed and still do so.
Marquette University: Building Boom
Today, Avenues West is the urban setting of its most well-known
institution, Marquette University, which continues to expand its
footprint well beyond its original 1881 building at 1004 W. State
Street. The new, 750-bed Robert A. Wild, S.J. Commons
(pictured) is slated to open this fall. It follows on the heels of an
almost two-decade building boom: the School of Dentistry, the
John P. Raynor, S.J. Library, the Al McGuire Center, Eckstein
Hall’s Law School, Engineering Hall and the Dr. E.J. O’Brien
Jesuit Residence. An inflatable dome recently transformed
Marquette’s Valley Field into a year-round facility and a new
athletic performance research center is planned just east of campus
in Westown. Additional plans include a BioDiscovery District and
Innovation Alley for the new business school and new recreation
facility. Even with all the new additions for their over 11,000
students, Marquette University remains rooted — physically and
philosophically — in its urban location, balancing its ability to
build a new $96 million dollar residence hall in less than a year and foster in its students an
understanding of the community and a dedication to service.
A Struggling Community Finds Hope
In the surrounding community, residents experiencing poverty or
even homelessness are able to find assistance at various
organizations. The Milwaukee Rescue Mission provides
approximately 300,000 meals, 40,000 items of clothing and over
100,000 nights of shelter each year. Casa Maria Hospitality
House currently provides short-term housing for women and
children, as well as refugees and asylum seekers. City On a
Hill (pictured) works to combat the cycle of poverty with
programs targeting the physical, social and spiritual health of
youth and families. Finally, Neighborhood House provides a safe
space for youth and families, seniors and immigrants, reaching
over 4,000 individuals a year with programs as varied as outdoor
and environmental education, after-school support, safe sex and
personal responsibility and citizenship training for refugees.
Together with the Aurora Sinai Medical Center — the last of five
major hospitals that congregated in the area during the early
1900s — these organizations are helping alleviate the very real
struggles of people in Avenues West.
Preserving the Past
→ I R I S H C U L T U R A L H E R I T A G E C E N T E R O F
W I S C O N S I N
Where: 2000 W. Wisconsin Ave.
Over a century after the Irish settled at nearby Tory Hill, the Irish
community’s culture and arts are still alive in Avenues West.
Located in the Grand Avenue Congregational Church building,
built the same year as Marquette College and the host church for
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s first Milwaukee visit, the Irish
Cultural Heritage Center of Wisconsin is a hub for Irish culture,
arts and genealogical research. Meeting and entertainment spaces in
its striking stained glass, wood-beamed interior are available for
rent.
→ P A B S T M A N S I O N
Where: 2000 W. Wisconsin Ave.
The most well-known remnant of the grandeur of
Grand Avenue, the Pabst Mansion became the
home of beer baron Captain Frederick Pabst in
1890. Boasting three floors, a full attic and
basement, ten bathrooms, fourteen fireplaces,
plus a carriage house and greenhouse, the over
20,000-square-foot dwelling still sits atop a little
hill, now squeezed between Marquette’s
Mashuda residence hall and The Marq luxury
student apartments. In 1908, the mansion
changed its identity, becoming the archbishop’s residence and the center of the Roman Catholic
Archdiocese of Milwaukee for the next sixty years. Plans to raze it for a parking lot failed in 1975,
and three years later it was opened to the public.
→ C H U D N O W M U S E U M O F Y E S T E R Y E A R
Where: 839 N. 11th St.
If you look closely, you can see it from I-43, tucked away
between Wells Street and Kilbourn Avenue. The
eclectic Chudnow Museum of Yesteryear highlights
Milwaukee’s history during the first half of the 1900s in a
way befitting its location: the home and law office of
Avrum M. Chudnow, who collected memorabilia until his
death in 2005. You won’t find any glass-cased exhibits in
Photo by Dominic Inouye
Photo by Dominic Inouye
Photo by Dominic Inouye
this two-story house that Chudnow bought in 1966. Instead, each room is transformed into a unique
environment: the immigrant-run Grafman Grocery Store, the Saxe Brothers Movie Palace (they
owned forty-two movie theaters in their heyday), a speakeasy and Dr. Joseph Eisenberg’s clinic
waiting room (he was a prior owner of the house). Eighteen exhibits allow visitors to experience
Milwaukee’s past through over 250,000 items ranging from the political to fashion to toys and more.
Envisioning the Future
→ H A G G E R T Y M U S E U M O F A R T
Where: 530 N. 13th St.
While the Haggerty Museum, added to Marquette
University’s campus in 1984, houses a rotating
display of Italian Renaissance painters and Old
Masters, it excels at featuring Wisconsin artists,
modern American photography, and exhibits
focused on contemporary social issues. Open to the
public, the Haggerty’s mission aligns with the
university’s: “to inform, strengthen and transform
our communities.” To that end, exhibits like the
current Greater Milwaukee Foundation’s Mary L.
Nohl Fund Fellowships for Individual Artists 2016
continue to delight, perplex, and challenge visitors. The Fellowships support the creation of new
work of both established artists and emerging ones. At the exhibit, which runs until September 17,
visitors encounter an enlarged frame from emerging artist Rose Curley’s graphic memoir about her
transracial adoption. “A Cabin of One’s Own” immerses visitors in Curley’s historical and personal
research with two- and three-dimensional representations, artifacts, writing and video.
→ I N T E R N A T I O N A L L E A R N I N G C E N T E R
Where: 639 N. 25th St.
The International Learning Center, quietly
operating out of the Central United Methodist
Church (you may have noticed the pointy concrete
modernism), has prepared, since 1981, over 5,000
adult refugees from Africa and Southeast Asian for
their future in Wisconsin. A program of the
nearby Neighborhood House of Milwaukee, the
Center — run by a mix of Milwaukee Area
Technical Collegeand other volunteers — provides
literacy and communication skills, citizenship and life skills. Like the other organizations listed
earlier, the ILC is always looking for volunteers to work with their eager-to-learn, future Americans.
Photo by Jeff Bentoff
Photo by Dominic Inouye
→ M O B I L E D E S I G N B O X
Where: 753 N. 27th St.
Finally, keep your eyes open for new pop-up
galleries showcasing urban designers,
community artists, and other creatives at 27th
Street’s Mobile Design Box. A community
outreach initiative of UWM’s School of
Architecture and Urban Planning (SARUP),
this innovative center’s latest gallery (July 21
from 5 to 9 p.m. and July 22 from 10 a.m. to 4
p.m.) couples the work of black visual artists
(Fresh Perspective) with historical preservation
(WasteCap). First popping up at the North End,
then the Historic Pritzlaff Building, this is the
Mobile Design Box’s third location, a
conscious choice given Avenue West’s
revitalization.
Avenues West is indeed a “Phoenix Rising,”
preserving its past but revealing itself more and
more as a vibrant community of arts,
academics, and community service.
Where to Eat
Avenues West has no shortage of good places to eat. First, try Marquette campus standbys
like Sobelman’s, Real Chili, Mendy Restaurant–even if you’re not a student. Then head over
to Miss Katie’s Diner, which has been dishing up 50s-inspired comfort food for 25 years, or
splurge for surf and turf at the 5 O’Clock Steakhouse. However, two establishments that represent
the luxurious past and the hopeful future of Avenues West are the Ambassador Hotel’s newly
remodeled spaces — The Fitz and Gin Rickey — and the soon-to-be expanding Daddy’s Soul Food
& Grille.
Photo by Dominic Inouye
Kate Madigan’s “Phoenix Rising” mural as seen
through the Neighborhood House Garden.
Photo by Dominic Inouye
→ T H E F I T Z & G I N R I C K E Y
Where: 2308 W. Wisconsin Ave.
The Ambassador Hotel wants to
transport you back to the 1920s of the
hotel’s early days on Wisconsin
Avenue. The former Envoy restaurant
and lounge have been
reimagined as The Fitz — an obvious
nod to F. Scott Fitzgerald — and Gin
Rickey. The blue, cream and gold
color scheme has been transformed into
a truly art deco space, with warmer
golds, browns and greens; the fancy
crystal chandeliers have been replaced
with abstract, retro lighting fixtures.
Chef Jason Gorman’s menus are inspired by the hotel’s past, serving up rich offerings like scallops
cordon bleu and spatchcocked chicken. In the new lounge, patrons can enjoy “pre-Prohibition-
inspired artisan cocktails” (including, of course, the Gin Rickey, made with Rehorst gin), small plates
like red deer venison meatballs and vegetarian entrees like Gardener’s Pie.
→ D A D D Y ’ S S O U L F O O D & G R I L L E
Where: 754 N. 27th St.
Look for an expansion this fall of Daddy’s Soul Food &
Grille, which grew from a family catering business almost
three years ago into the beloved and therefore busy place
that it is today. Even at mid-afternoon on Friday, happy,
boisterous customers filled almost all the tables at Daddy’s,
located in the SoHi Building (for “South of Highland”),
which is helping to activate the revitalization of 27th Street.
Black and white photos of the owner’s father, the
restaurant’s namesake, mix with local artwork to create a
homey feel. The most popular home-cooked order seems to
be the $9.99 buffet, which gets you one meat (try the
meatloaf or catfish) and three sides (try greens and sweet
potatoes, for sure).
Photo by Dominic Inouye
Photo by Dominic Inouye