The Hilton Milwaukee City Center is a historic

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

-style hotel opened in 1928 and located in the Westown neighborhood of downtown

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

. It is owned by the

Marcus Corporation The Marcus Corporation () is an American publicly held company headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The company operates two principal divisions: Marcus Theatres and Marcus Hotels and Resorts. History Marcus Corporation was founded on Novemb ...

, which also owns the Pfister Hotel and the Saint Kate Hotel in Downtown Milwaukee.

History

The hotel opened in 1928 as the Schroeder Hotel. It was owned by hotel magnate Walter Schroeder and designed by

Holabird & Roche The architectural firm now known as Holabird & Root was founded in Chicago in 1880. Over the years, the firm has changed its name several times and adapted to the architectural style then current — from Chicago School to Art Deco to Modern ...

. Its exterior is in the simplified neo-classical style, while its interiors are Art Deco, with extensive use of hardwoods and intricate decorative metal detailing. It has a height of 275 feet (84 meters), with an antenna extending its total height to 187 meters. The building has 25 floors and 729 rooms. The Schroeder was sold to

Sheraton Hotels Sheraton Hotels and Resorts is an international semi-luxury hotel chain owned by Marriott International. As of June 30, 2020, Sheraton operates 446 hotels with 155,617 rooms globally, including locations in North America, Africa, Asia Pacific, Ce ...

in 1966 and renamed the Sheraton-Schroeder Hotel. Sheraton sold the hotel in 1972 to local businessman Ben Marcus, who renamed it the Marc Plaza Hotel. In 1995, the

brought in

Hilton Hotels Hilton Hotels & Resorts (formerly known as Hilton Hotels) is a global brand of full-service hotels and resorts and the flagship brand of American multinational hospitality company Hilton. The original company was founded by Conrad Hilton. As ...

to manage the property, and it was renamed the Hilton Milwaukee City Center. A 13-floor addition, designed by Kaler Slater Architects and built by Mortenson, was constructed in 2000. It was planned to serve as the headquarters hotel for the 2020 Democratic National Convention, before the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

forced a temporary closure, along with major changes to the DNC to a remote format. In March 2020, the hotel closed due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

pandemic. In June 2020, Marc Corporation permanently laid off 79 workers at the Hilton Milwaukee City Center Hilton Milwaukee City Center is a member of

Historic Hotels of America Historic Hotels of America is a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation that was founded in 1989 with 32 charter members; the program accepts nominations and identifies hotels that have maintained their authenticity, sense of pla ...

, an official program of the

National Trust for Historic Preservation The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that works in the field of historic preservation in the United States. The member-supported organization was founded in 1949 by ...

References

External links

Official website
{{Milwaukee Skyscrapers 1928 establishments in Wisconsin Milwaukee City Center Skyscraper hotels in Milwaukee Hotels established in 1928 Hotel buildings completed in 1928 Sheraton hotels Historic Hotels of America

History

See also

References

External links