Property Record
2500 W OKLAHOMA AVE
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Casimir Pulaski High School |
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| Other Name: | Pulaski High School |
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| Reference Number: | 116242 |
| Location (Address): | 2500 W OKLAHOMA AVE |
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| County: | Milwaukee |
| City: | Milwaukee |
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| Year Built: | 1938 |
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| Additions: | 1973 1980 |
| Survey Date: | 197920192024 |
| Historic Use: | school – elem/middle/jr high/high |
| Architectural Style: | Art/Streamline Moderne |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
| Architect: | Guy Wiley (original structure); Abeoth & Associates (1) (additions) |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
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| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE: Handsome "WPA Moderne" school design in orange brick. Construction date, 1938, 1973. (1) City of Milwuakee, 1938, Owner. (1) The school is clad in buff brick with limestone and metal trim. The school displays character-defining elements of the Art Deco style such as cubic massing, prominent vertical lines, and stylized geometric and floral ornamentation. Pulaski High School was designed by Guy E. Wiley, Chief of Construction Division for the Milwaukee Board of School Directors. Wiley considered Pulaski one of his major works, as indicated in his biographical entries in the American Institute of Architects directories. Pulaski High School is the largest and the last of the large junior and high schools that Wiley designed, following the Lincoln High School, completed in 1928; Steuben Junior High School, 1932; and Rufus King High School, 1933. Pulaski followed the same general building layout as Rufus King but was 25 percent larger. The resulting additional cost – along with residual concerns over the perceived “lavishness” of the Rufus King high school – caused significant delays to the planning and construction of Pulaski. At its completion, the Milwaukee Journal wrote that Pulaski’s final cost of $2.4 million was because “it is such a large project and because its contracts were awarded at a time when the labor and building material markets were rising – not because it is so elaborate or ornate.” The high school at this site began as barracks in 1936, to accommodate overcrowding at the existing South Division and Bay View high schools. Fourteen barracks were initially set up; these grew to forty barracks by the time the new Pulaski High School opened. Groundbreaking happened in December 1937, and the building was completed in just under eighteen months. The school was named after Casimir Pulaski, Polish-born American Revolutionary War hero, appropriate to the predominantly Polish neighborhoods which made up the south and west sides of Milwaukee. |
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| Bibliographic References: | 1. Milwaukee Public Schools Facilities Planning |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |