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Milwaukee County Historical Center (Second Ward Savings Bank)

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1913, Kirchhoff and Rose. 910 N. Old World 3rd St.
  • (HABS)

This triangular Beaux-Arts classical former bank is one of the few buildings in Milwaukee whose every elevation is as grandly detailed as a primary facade because important streets passed the site on all three sides. The portion of N. Plankinton Avenue that ran along the building’s east side was closed years ago and is now part of a park that extends to the river. Each elevation has regularly spaced piers with applied Ionic half columns that front tall and elegantly detailed steel-framed windows. A limestone balustrade crowns the building. Its Renaissance style interior, largely intact, features a mezzanine encircling the central two-story hall, formerly the bank lobby. Ionic columns surround this atrium, echoing their exterior marble counterparts with scagliola plaster painted to resemble stone. Since the 1960s, the building has housed the museum of the Milwaukee County Historical Society.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Marsha Weisiger et al.
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Data

What's Nearby

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Building
UW–Milwaukee Panther Arena (Milwaukee Mecca Arena)
Marcus Center for the Performing Arts
Turnverein Milwaukee Hall (Turner Hall)
Germania Building

Citation

Marsha Weisiger et al., "Milwaukee County Historical Center (Second Ward Savings Bank)", [Milwaukee, Wisconsin], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/WI-01-MI31.

Print Source

Buildings of Wisconsin

Buildings of Wisconsin, Marsha Weisiger and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2017, 83-83.

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