Wisconsin Tower

skyscraper
art-deco
WI
Milwaukee

About the Wisconsin Tower in Milwaukee
Architect and team
Architectureal style
Spaces and uses
Structure and materials

The Wisconsin Tower is an Art-deco skyscraper designed by Weary & Alford Company and built between 1929 and 1930 in Milwaukee, WI.

Wisconsin Tower is not the only name you might know this building by though. It is common for companies to want to attach their names to iconic buildings when they move in, or for the general public to come up with nicknames, and this one is no exception. The building has changed names several times over the years, and is also known as:

Mariner Tower between 1930 and 1939.
606 Building.

Its precise street address is 606 West Wisconsin Ave, Milwaukee, WI. You can also find it on the map here.

At the time of its completion in 1930 the Wisconsin Tower incorporated solutions that were quite advanced at the time, these included electronically controlled elevators, which did not require an operator.

The building underwent a major restoration between 2005 and 2006.

Building's timeline

Construction begins

1929

Mariner Tower

1930

Restoration

2006

years ago

2024

2005 to 2006 - Use-change.

Architect and team

Weary & Alford Company was the architecture firm in charge of the architectural design.

Weary & Alford Company was in charge of the architectural design, however, architecture is a complex discipline, which usually involves 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 John W. Mariner as the Main Developer.

Architectural Style

The Wisconsin Tower can be categorized as an Art-deco building.

The Art Deco movement flourished during the 1920s and 1930s, with many historians marking the outbreak of World War II as its final decline. Even though a couple of decades might not seem as much, the Art Deco movement had a great impact on architecture, and it's widely represented in many American cities due to the development boom that happened during that time.

Art Deco marked the abandonment of traditional historicism and the embracement of modern living and the age of the machine. In architecture, that meant leaving behind the ornaments of Beux-Arts and Neo-Gothic buildings and instead favoring simplicity and visual impact through geometric shapes, clean lines, and symmetrical designs. Ornaments were still an important part of the design, but they became bold and lavish, and were often inspired by ancient cultures or industrial imagery, instead of nature.

The Wisconsin Tower was completed in 1930, right when the Art Deco movement was at its peak, so it kind of went with the trend at that time.

Spaces & Uses

The Wisconsin Tower reaches an architectural height of 279ft (85m). It has a total of 24 floors, 22 above ground and 2 basements, served by 4 elevators.

When it opened its doors to the public in 1930, the Wisconsin Tower was primarily used as Office space. That however, is no longer the case, and today it mainly provides Residential space.

About the residences

The Wisconsin Tower has a total of 74 residential units throughout its 22 floors.

Materials & Structure

The Wisconsin Tower 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 non-load bearing either, as it is common in frame structure type buildings.

From an aesthetic point of view, the facade features bedford stone.

Other materials found at the Wisconsin Tower include, brown marble, used at the front entrance, and levanto marble, which was brought from Italy and can be found covering the walls of the main lobby.