One thing when you look at Milwaukee as a whole is that it is clearly not the cleanest, slickest, or awe-inspiring city that Wisconsin has to offer. When compared to other cities such as the state’s capitol, Madison, you can definitely see that Milwaukee lacks that certain something. One thing that most people forget is that Milwaukee was never meant to be this metropolitan, high pace place, but rather it was created as a factory and warehouse city. It was only until recent, last few decades, that Milwaukee has truly tried to renovate itself into the ranks of larger, more established cities. With the dubbing of the Historic Third Ward we can see the ambition that the city is trying to hold up to, and there is now a level of importance placed onto the aesthetics of the city.
Because of this, I think that the Historic Third Ward being a Nationally Registered Historic District is a wonderful thing. I have been able to live in the third ward for a few years because the MIAD dorms were, up until recently, located within the boundaries of the district. I have been able to interact with the effects of the third ward on the city. Cleanliness can be seen as a huge comparison especially to the other parts of town: Riverwest, immediate Southside, the neighborhoods past 25th street. City life has also been rising, this past summer being the busiest I have ever seen it to be. With the title intact to this part of the city, I believe that it has only brought good things to the image of what Milwaukee is and the potential it has.
“The observation has been made that it unfortunately often takes the loss of ones major structure in a community to galvanize its citizens into taking action.” (89, Murtagh) This statement shows some truth to what Milwaukee is. If the restoration aspects of this city had not been brought to attention, I believe that the city would have started deteriorating into nothing. The uses of the Design Guidelines are vital in the operation of keeping the third ward together and coherent.
One of the strengths that the guidelines provide is their tedious detail to what the structures and the over all look of the third ward should be. Attention to back facades, sidewalk signs, ghosting, and rhythm are really little aspects that separately don’t amount to anything. When the boards and comities review aspects of buildings and color choices and all other aspects, though, it almost seems necessary to let everything in this historic ward start to blend together. With uniformity there begins the creation of togetherness, and you can start to recognize where you are.
One problem I had with the guidelines was all the photographs of examples. The idea of having photographic referencing is a excellent idea, but when a good handful of the photos are not of Milwaukee I think that material becomes irrelevant. Examples should be taken out of the context of what already exists in Milwaukee rather than creating a guideline that is brand new to the cities historic integrity. There are pictures of green spaces that would never work within this city, as well as buildings that don’t match the architectural styles that are prominently provided. There seems to be no place to use other cities as major references. Instead we should turn to the places that inspire the preservation of the Historic Third Ward in the first place.
I do believe that all districts should have guidelines. In fact I believe it would be nice, maybe a little problematic, for all neighborhoods of sorts to have guidelines. The way that a city is presented should reflect the intent of why we moved to America. Guidelines not only protect the integrity of a place, but they more importantly make it nice to live in. People want to move to preserved places, people want to live in nice regulated neighborhoods or even gated communities. The element of using a guideline system can be monotonous and sometimes a little ridiculous but it really seems to be better for the community and for the city.
Murtagh, William. Keeping Time, The History and Theory of Preservation in America. 3. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons Inc., 2005. 89. Print.
Grant, historically Milwaukee was settled originally in the 1840s and 1850s by east coasters particularly from New England (Massachusetts and Conn.) and New York as potential Metropolis for the midwest. The city was styled on cities like New York going even so far as to note street names (Broadway in particular) was taken from NYC by the Yankee Settlers. It is only in the latter quarter of the nineteenth century post 1880 or so that we start seeing the shift to wider variety of ethnic backgrounds.
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