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Property Record

2400 BLOCK OF N LINCOLN MEMORIAL DRIVE - BRADFOR BEACH - LAKE MICHIGAN PARKWAY N

Historic Name:
Bradford Beach Bathhouse
Other Name:
Bradford Beach Pavilion
Reference Number:
100425

Property Location

Location (Address)
2400 BLOCK OF N LINCOLN MEMORIAL DRIVE - BRADFOR BEACH - LAKE MICHIGAN PARKWAY N
County
Milwaukee
City/Village
Milwaukee
Township
Unincorporated community
Town
Range
Direction
Section
Quarter Section
Quarter Quarter Section

Property Features

Year Built
1949
Additions
Survey Date
2011
Historic Use
Architectural Style
Structural System
Unknown
Wall Material
Brick
Architect
Grunwald and Behrens
Other Buildings On Site
Demolished
No
Demolished Date
Additional Comments
Shaped like a ship, this pavilion seems ideally suited to its location on a popular swimming beach. The city built the bathhouse to provide restroom, changing, and bathing facilities. Architects Grunwald and Behrens decked out the two-story, brick and concrete structure with maritime motifs. The upper story opens onto a ship-like promenade deck. The enclosed lower story resembles a ship’s hull, perforated only by doors and glass-block ribbon windows. A curving prow forms the front of the pavilion, and a flagpole rises like a mast. A long, rail-enclosed sundeck trails off to the stern, its twisting staircase descending to the beach. Before the 1920s this site lay beneath Lake Michigan. In the late 1920s, city crews began to fill the Milwaukee lakeshore out from the lakefront bluffs for Lincoln Memorial Drive. The outer part became Bradford Beach and the Milwaukee’s other sandy beaches. 2011- Appearance unchanged from 1990. The pedestrian bridge over Lincoln Memorial Drive in c.1951, wrapped around the east elevation. A concrete deck was constructed on the second story with a concrete staircase providing access to the beach on the north elevation. The handrail around the pavilion was altered at this time. Date of construction from the Milwaukee County database. 1990- Original entry. 2025: No apparent changes
Bibliographic References
Buildings of Wisconsin manuscript.

National And State Register Of Historic Places Listings

National/State Register Listing Name
Not Listed
National Register Listing Date
State Register Listing Date
Contributing
Yes
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Attribution

For a credit line: Wisconsin Historical Society, Creator, Title, Unique Identifier. 

The Unique Identifier can be found at the top or bottom of the page for each item. The name of a downloaded file is NOT the unique identifier.

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