I went to Milwaukee with my friend Andrew in October 2023, as a kind of side trip on a visit to Chicago (and both were a side trip to a visit to Toronto). My expectations were a bit low, honestly, but Milwaukee was a pretty little city with a downtown that appeared to be thriving, if new construction is anything to go by. Their art museum, Santiago Calatrava's first commission in North America, is spectacular, right on the water. I found the many views of the Milwaukee and the Menomonee Rivers to be very picturesque. Really nice short visit to this town.
Photo List (Total 290 Photos)
Click bolded headers below to view, or click "just the best" for quick tour
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Waterfront and the Milwaukee Art Museum (65 photos) - This gallery starts at the shore of Lake Michigan, and after a few shots of the lakeshore, it is dominated by the art museum. Photos from every angle of the exterior of the building, lots inside, including perhaps too many photos of the art. Absolutely one of the most beautiful buildings I've been in, though the modern Calatrava addition has only small bits of art in it, and most of the museum is in the older building.
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Central Milwaukee (130 photos) - This gallery is the downtown of the city, and it starts close to the waterfront (some buildings from the previous gallery get repeated here), and moves inland. Andrew and I did a big wig-waggly all over the city, so this is not at all in the order we walked. From the water, the gallery heads inland past Cathedral Square Park and to the area around Milwaukee's remarkable City Hall, and then jolts north to a German neighbourhood with the famous Usinger's store. It continues west for a few photos around our hotel near Wisconsin Avenue. From there, it returns to just south of the City Hall area, moving between views of the streets and the Milwaukee River, and heading south. It crosses Highway 749 and goes to the Public Market, and continues in a southward direction through the Historic Third Ward. It ends with a bunch of photos at the confluence of the Milwaukee and Menomonee Rivers.
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Outer Areas of Milwaukee (95 photos) - This gallery includes things away from the central city, in a bit of a random order. It starts with the Basilica of St. Josephat, which is some distance to the south of downtown, and which we visited in a light rain. I also visited the Allen-Bradley Clock Tower. I managed to wander by to Frank Lloyd Wright's Burnham Block just fifteen minutes before a tour began, they are only offered one day a month. This row of six houses reflects Wright's desire (mostly unrealized) to build affordable housing, it consists of two detached small houses, and four duplexes. It was quite cool to see buildings that were unmistakeably Frank Lloyd Wright, but which were modest in their approach. One still has aluminum siding, which thrilled me! After that are the Mitchell Park Domes, the Harley Davidson Museum, the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum. We ate well at two restaurants, the Odd Duck (to the south of downtown) and The Diplomat (to the north). Andrew took the small streetcar for a bit in the afternoon, and those photos are also included here.
