Milwaukee's City Hall

Local designation, to me, holds the foundation to what preservation is. It all starts somewhere, and though a building might look boring or not be that historically significant, some person needs to find a site deemed important to get the ball rolling. The system works wonderfully that way. Not only do you have people seeking out preservation, but also then it gets handed to another group to validate the actual importance of a site, place, or object. Section 106 creates this great underlining barrier between government and the people. It arbitrates, based off of checks and balances, between the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and the people to seek to preserve. Section 106, as well as other sections like 4F, is a great way to give enough power to the government but only if it is understood that the public has a voice. 4F reassures that the Department of Transportation doesn’t disrupt the preservation process to any building that is on the National Historic Preservation List or meets the guidelines to be on it. This provides many people to stand up in time to preserve a place that has yet to be approached for whatever reason. It is vital that the designation to public opinion remains to be a strong component in order to save what exactly is important to America and its people.

A building such as Milwaukee City Hall has many factors contributing to the preservation status that it holds. Located on 200 East Wells Street, this wedge-shaped building was built by Paul Riesen and Henry C. Koch. Koch won a national competition to build this unique structure, marking a German style exterior to represent the heritage of the city as well as creating a dramatic contemporary interior to compromise with the oddity of the shape that the building held.
1861 marked the permanent location of the City Hall, but it was not initially foreseen that way. Where the Market House stood, City Hall found itself in need for expansion because of the rise in population in the city. But since there was a massive dispute between east side’s Juneautown and west sides Kilbournetown the building, where it stood, was sought to be the best location. It was then built between 1893-1895 with preservation renovations happening 100 years later. Notable was the renewal of the front tower clad with a copper exterior in 1973 as well as in 1969 the masonry was repainted and repaired.
I feel that the historical significance as well as the architectural aspects of Milwaukee’s City Hall makes it definitely a great candidate for preservation. The architecture is very important to the 19th century German style and it reflects what “German Rathausers” (city halls) looked like. It is to be noted that German settlers were the first among many to settle in Milwaukee, so the historical reference is very romantic. Also, there is the little detail that this specific City Hall has been the primary location of Milwaukee’s government, still housing the Common Council Mayor’s Office, the City Clerk and the City Treasurer. The usefulness of the City Hall should also be eminent. There has certainty been a nice balance of up keeping an establishment that functions but doesn’t interrupt the right of the people with tourism and the gimmicks that tourism could bring. It also continuously celebrates it aesthetics, as a reminder that the look of City Hall is just as important as why it is there. So the preservation of Milwaukee City Hall, to me, is an overall good thing in the category of preserving what is true to this city.

Historic Preservation Study Report: Milwaukee City Hall, 1982. Web 12 Sept. 2011.

http://www.city.milwaukee.gov/ImageLibrary/Groups/cityHPC/DesignatedReports/vticnf/CityHall.pdf