In 500-plus pages, Buildings of Wisconsin catalogues significant structures in every corner of the state from landmarks to less-recognized edifices. The entries, arranged by region and municipality, encompass everything from half-timbered barns to Holy Hill, from Baroque to post-postmodern. The Milwaukee section acknowledges the city’s Teutonic architectural heritage—“There were few cities of its size in the country between 1860 and 1920 that had as many professional architects per capita as did Milwaukee”—and includes the Wisconsin Gas Building and City Hall along with many churches, private homes and businesses. The one-story clapboard Town of Milwaukee Town Hall in Glendale shares space with the University Club Tower and the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church. The descriptions are succinct and sometimes witty. Milwaukee designer Brooks Stevens may have coined the term “planned obsolescence” but his 1942 Fox Point home, “with its simple lines, remains thoroughly modern.”
