Property Record
515-519 E WISCONSIN AVE
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Federal Building (Main Post Office) |
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| Other Name: | FEDERAL BUILDING, US COURTHOUSE |
| Contributing: | |
| Reference Number: | 16283 |
| Location (Address): | 515-519 E WISCONSIN AVE |
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| County: | Milwaukee |
| City: | Milwaukee |
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| Year Built: | 1899 |
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| Additions: | 1931 |
| Survey Date: | 19842015 |
| Historic Use: | post office |
| Architectural Style: | Romanesque Revival |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Granite Stone |
| Architect: | James Knox Taylor; WILLOUGHBY J. EDBROOKE |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Federal Building |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 3/14/1973 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 1/1/1989 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: |
| Additional Information: | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Historic Preservation and HABS. 10 STORY TOWER W/TURRETS ON CNRS. ROUND ARCHED WINDOWS ON 3RD FLR. ROUND ARCHED ARCADED ENTRY. ROUND TOWERS ON ALL CNRS. WISCONSIN REGISTERED LANDMARK, 11-9-1982. This imposing Romanesque Revival fortress reflects the influence of Boston architect Henry Hobson Richardson, who in the 1880s put his own much-imitated mark on the revival of Romanesque architecture of eleventh- and twelfth-century Europe. Richardson's widely admired design for the Allegheny County Courthouse in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, inspired many copies among government buildings in the 1890s, among them Milwaukee's Federal Building, which originally included a ground floor post office. Willoughby Edbrooke, supervising architect for the federal Treasury Department in the early 1890s, designed this and very similar post offices in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Washington, D.C. Inside, visitors step into one of the Midwest's best institutional Victorian interiors. Edbrooke organized the floor plan around a spectacular central atrium (a feature in his other Edbrooke federal buildings). "Milwaukee's Federal Building is the work of a Washington architect employed by the Treasury Department during the last years of the 19th century.Its pale grey granite walls reveal the period's increasing preference for light colors in exterior treatments, while the Wisconsin Avenue entrance portico attests to a lingering interest in Romanesque forms and details. In 1930 a five-story wing of similar style was added, extending the building to Michigan Street, and in recent months the entire structure has undergone remodeling on the interior and restoration on the exterior." Pagel, Mary Ellen & Virginia Palmer for the University of Wisconsin Extension Division, Guides to Historic Milwaukee: Juneautown Walking Tour, 1965. |
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| Bibliographic References: | ZIMMERMAN, 20. MILWAUKEE SENTINEL 1/6/1995. WISCONSIN ARCHITECT, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER, 1992. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 4/19/1999. Perrin, p. 38. Milwaukee Sentinel, April 9, 1899. Milwaukee Sentinel, April 21, 1899. Buildings of Wisconsin manuscript. Pagel, Mary Ellen & Virginia Palmer for the University of Wisconsin Extension Division, Guides to Historic Milwaukee: Juneautown Walking Tour, 1965. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |