Property Record
605-617 N BROADWAY
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Home Office, Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company |
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| Other Name: | LOYALTY BLOCK |
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| Reference Number: | 16290 |
| Location (Address): | 605-617 N BROADWAY |
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| County: | Milwaukee |
| City: | Milwaukee |
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| Year Built: | 1885 |
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| Additions: | 1886 |
| Survey Date: | 19842010 |
| Historic Use: | large office building |
| Architectural Style: | Romanesque Revival |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Stone - Unspecified |
| Architect: | SOLON SPENCER BEMAN; ALBERT H. SWANKE; S.I. Brown; Edward Townsend Mix |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Home Office, Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 3/20/1973 |
| 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. Built as the second headquarters of Northwestern Mutual Life. Resurveyed for Milwaukee Downtown Connector Arch/History Survey, SHPO#10-0983, Prepared by Heritage Research (2010). The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company began in Janesville in 1851, but moved to Milwaukee in 1859, in time becoming one of the country’s leading insurance companies. As it grew, each of its corporate home office locations featured Milwaukee’s best examples of prevailing architectural trends. This Romanesque Revival structure was Northwestern Mutual Life’s third corporate home, from 1886 until 1914. Its quality construction and use of luxurious materials mirrored its nationwide success. "Outgrowing their Neo-Gothic offices at Broadway and Wisconsin Avenue, the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company constructed its second home office on this site, left vacant three years earlier by the tragic Newhall House fire. It was known as the New Insurance Building until the company's further expansion made necessary the construction of the present home office on East Wisconsin Avenue in 1912. In the lobby of 611 North Broadway one sees mosaic floors, marble columns, and bronze balustrades--all relics of an era when the emphasis was not on functional efficiency. The low round arches and roughly hewn masonry of the exterior announce its designer's familiarity with the buildings of H. H. Richardson. The versatile Mix had also drawn the plans for Northwestern Mutual's earlier, Neo-Gothic office building completed in 1870 and razed in 1965." 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: | THE DATE OF CONSTRUCTION AND THE NAME OF THE ARCHITECT ARE FROM THE NR NOMINATION. BUILT IN MILWAUKEE, LANDSCAPE RESEARCH, P. 82. MILWAUKEE HISTORIC BUILDINGS TOUR: JUNEAUTOWN, CITY OF MILWAUKEE DEPARTMENT OF CITY DEVELOPMENT, 1994. NEW YORK TIMES, 1/10/1996, P. C17. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 2/13/2000. Milwaukee Business Journal 7/3/1986, p. 9. Milwaukee Sentinel, October 4, 1886 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 |