The Pythian Castle Lodge, also known as Crystal Palace, in

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 ...

, United States, was built in 1927 by the

Knights of Pythias The Knights of Pythias is a fraternal organization and secret society founded in Washington, D.C., on . The Knights of Pythias is the first fraternal organization to receive a charter under an act of the United States Congress. It was founded ...

, a fraternal organization. In 1988 it was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. The Knights of Pythias is a fraternal organization founded in 1864 in Washington, D.C., aiming to promote the qualities of friendship, loyalty, honor and justice demonstrated in the ancient Greek legend of

Damon and Pythias The story of Damon (; grc-gre, Δάμων, gen. Δάμωνος) and Pythias (; or ; or Phintias, ) is a legend in Greek historic writings illustrating the Pythagorean ideal of friendship. Pythias is accused of and charged with plotting against ...

. Chapters sprouted up across the U.S., including one in Milwaukee in 1870. This was Schiller Lodge #3, and it was a German-speaking group. By the 1890s Schiller lodge had switched to an English-language ritual and Milwaukee had three other Pythian lodges on the south side: Taylor Lodge, Walker Lodge, and National Lodge No. 141. In 1909 those four men's lodges banded together with Pythian Sisters Purity Temple and the Rathbone Sisters Star Temple. The merged group rented meeting spaces for years. In 1921 they decided to build their own hall. The new meeting hall on National Avenue was designed by Milwaukee architect Richard Oberst. It is a two-story brick structure on a poured concrete foundation with a roof that is flat in parts and hipped elsewhere, covered in clay tile. This much is a

Mediterranean Revival Mediterranean Revival is an architectural style introduced in the United States, Canada, and certain other countries in the 19th century. It incorporated references from Spanish Renaissance, Spanish Colonial, Italian Renaissance, French Colonial ...

style. But the structure also has

pavilions In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings: * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

on the corners with curve-topped

parapets A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). Wher ...

, drawn from

Spanish Colonial Revival The Spanish Colonial Revival Style ( es, Arquitectura neocolonial española) is an architectural stylistic movement arising in the early 20th century based on the Spanish Colonial architecture of the Spanish colonization of the Americas. In the ...

style. with Oberst also designed the Excelsior Masonic Temple at 2422 W. National Avenue in Milwaukee, a

Classical Revival Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing style ...

building from 1922 that was deemed to be NRHP-eligible but was not listed on the NRHP due to owner objection. This Pythian Castle was built during the heyday of the Pythians. In the 1920s they were the third largest fraternal organization in the western world. Unlike the

Freemasons Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

, the Pythians rented their space out to other organizations, including labor groups like the Order of Railroad Engineers, the Harvester Tool Makers, Painters and Varnishers, the Firefighters Local No. 215, the Hatters Local, and the Die Sinkers Union; also the Squirrel Club, the South Side Civic Association, and the Navy Fathers.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Buildings and structures completed in 1927 Buildings and structures in Milwaukee Clubhouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin Knights of Pythias buildings National Register of Historic Places in Milwaukee