The Pabst Building is a Neogothic skyscraper designed by Solon Spencer Beman, and built in 1891 in Milwaukee, WI.
The exact addresss of the building was 108 East Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee, WI. However, you won't be able to find it there anymore, since it was demolished in 1981, 90 year after opening its doors to the public.
The building underwent a major restoration in 1940.
Solon Spencer Beman was the architecture firm in charge of the architectural design.
That being said, architecture is a complex discipline involving many professionals from different fields, without whom this building would have not been possible. We will surely be leaving out a lot of names here, but at the very least we know that there was one other part involved, that was Frederick Pabst as the Main Developer.
The Pabst Building can be categorized as a Neogothic building.
The Neo-Gothic style, also known as Gothic Revival, emerged in the United States during the late 19th century, taking inspiration from the Gothic architecture found in Europe from centuries prior.
The Gothic Revival movement took elements characteristic of the Gothic buildings, such as pointed architect, ribbed vaults and flying buttresses, and applied them to newer buildings, even those belonging to typologies that did not exist during the original Gothic period, such as skyscrapers.
Neg-Gothic buildings usually feature pinnacles, gargoyles and other decorative elements that emphasize the verticality of the structure, and include stonework that features the craftsmanship of skilled artisans of the time.
The Pabst Building was completed in 1891. These were the late days of the Neogothic movement, which had been around for almost 200 years at the time.
Art-deco would soon take over US architecture, and therefore, even though Solon Spencer Beman didn't venture into what was cutting edge in terms of style at the time, and took instead a more conservative approach to the design of the Pabst Building, it is possible that the design already started showing some traits that would later become characteristic of the art-deco movement.
The Pabst Building reaches an architectural height of 236ft (72m). It has a total of 14 floors, served by 3 elevators.
.The Pabst Building uses a frame structure made of steel columns and concrete slabs.
A frame structure uses a combination of beams and columns to sustain the building's weight. The walls in this case are non-load bearing, which allows for more flexibility when distributing the interior spaces.
The facade is a non-load bearing masonry facade. This type of facade became common during the period when buildings, especially taller ones, transitioned from load-bearing wall systems to frame structures.
Frame structures allowed facades to be independent from the building's frame, enabling the use of lighter materials and larger openings. However, it took some time for architects to incorporate these new posibilities into their designs, and so for a while they simply replicated the look and feel fo buildings people where used to seeing.
From an aesthetic point of view, the facade features brown brick ornamented with terra cotta ornaments.
Another material found at the Pabst Building is granite, found at the entrance's arch.