The city of
Milwaukee
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. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...
,
Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
, is home to 119
high-rise buildings or skyscrapers, 55 of which stand at or taller. The majority of the city's tallest buildings are located north of the
Interstate 794, south of Juneau Avenue, east of
Interstate 43
Interstate 43 (I-43) is a Interstate Highway located entirely within the US state of Wisconsin, connecting I-39/I-90 in Beloit with Milwaukee and I-41, U.S. Highway 41 (US 41) and US 141 in Green Bay. State Trunk Highway ...
, and west of Lincoln Memorial Drive. There are additional high-rises extending northward along
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...
. The tallest building in Milwaukee, and Wisconsin, is the 42-story, tall
U.S. Bank Center, which was completed in 1973. The second-tallest is the 32-story, tall
Northwestern Mutual Tower and Commons
The Northwestern Mutual Tower and Commons is a 550-foot, 32-story skyscraper located at 805 East Mason Street in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. On September 25, 2013, Northwestern Mutual unveiled the design for its new office tower. The company's former 16- ...
building, completed in 2017.
The history of skyscrapers in Milwaukee began with the
Pabst Building. Completed in 1891, and standing tall, it was Milwaukee's first skyscraper, and the tallest building in the city until the
Milwaukee City Hall
The Milwaukee City Hall is a skyscraper and town hall located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It was finished in 1895, and was Milwaukee's tallest building until completion of the First Wisconsin Center in 1973. The Milwaukee City Hall was ...
was completed four years later. The Pabst Building was demolished in 1981. For nearly eighty years, from 1895 to 1973, City Hall dominated the skyline, and was at the time of its completion, the tallest habitable building in the United States.
A significant building boom occurred in the 1960s, resulting in eleven of the top sixteen tallest buildings of the time having been built in that decade, and then between 1985 and 1991, six of the eight tallest buildings of the time were constructed. But a third significant building boom in the twenty-first century includes the construction of
the Moderne
The Moderne ( ) is a 30-story apartment building in Milwaukee. It stands at 348 feet (106 meters) tall, making it the tallest building in the city west of the Milwaukee River. The tower's ground floor is occupied by Carson's Ribs, with the rema ...
, a skyscraper with luxury
condominiums, the 833 East Michigan office building, the Potawatomi Casino Hotel, the
Northwestern Mutual Tower and Commons
The Northwestern Mutual Tower and Commons is a 550-foot, 32-story skyscraper located at 805 East Mason Street in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. On September 25, 2013, Northwestern Mutual unveiled the design for its new office tower. The company's former 16- ...
, the 25-story, tall BMO Harris Financial Center, and the 34-story, tall
7Seventy7
7Seventy7 is a 35 story apartment high rise commissioned by Milwaukee based Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company. The building was completed in 2018 and is located at 777 N. Van Buren St. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
History
Northwestern Mutua ...
Residential tower, all built since 2012. Future under-construction or approved skyscrapers include the 44-story, tall Couture, a mixed-use tower with high-end residential apartments and retail space, the mass timber
Ascent MKE
Ascent MKE is a mass timber hybrid high-rise apartment building in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The 284-foot (87 meter), 25-story high-rise is the world's tallest mass timber structure, edging out Norway's Mjøstårnet. It features 259 luxury apartment ...
, and the resurrected 27-story, tall Goll Mansion Apartment Tower, resulting in ten of the sixteen tallest buildings in the city having been constructed since 2005.
Another six high-rises have been proposed since the beginning of 2017.
Tallest buildings
This list ranks the fifty tallest Milwaukee skyscrapers based on standard height measurement. This includes
spires
The Stanford Physics Information Retrieval System (SPIRES) is a database management system developed by Stanford University. It is used by universities, colleges and research institutions. The first website in North America was created to allow re ...
and architectural details, but does not include antenna masts. The "Year" column indicates the year of completion.
Tallest under construction, approved, and proposed
This lists buildings that are under construction, approved, or proposed in Milwaukee.
Timeline of tallest buildings
Tallest demolished
This table lists buildings in Milwaukee that were demolished and at one time stood at least in height.
References
;General
Emporis.com - Milwaukee;Specific
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Milwaukee
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. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...
Tallest in Milwaukee
Tallest buildings