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Centennial Hall at Milwaukee Public Library is one of those places that makes you feel like you’re stepping back in time to a golden age, like the 1890s, when the library was constructed.
But looks can be deceiving, I was reminded, when I re-visited the gorgeous auditorium space, 733 N. 8th St.
First, the space wasn’t always called Centennial Hall.
Second, although it’s not obvious now, the auditorium was not built with the rest of the library, but about 15 years later.
Third, it hasn’t always looked as ornate as it does now. Sure, it did at the beginning, but over the years it had been “modernized” and much of its splendor obscured.
Fourth, Centennial Hall is not the name of the auditorium, but rather of a three-room facility that includes the large Koeppen-Gerlach Auditorium, the much smaller Masters Room, which is more of a meeting-sized space, and the Loos Room, which was intended as a smaller lecture hall, along with the lobby, of course.
Fifth, Centennial Hall wasn’t really built for the library, but more so for the Milwaukee Public Museum, which shared the building with the library before it moved to its new home across Wells Street in 1963.
While the first and main section of the library opened in 1898, the complex now includes a number of additions dating as recently as 1957.
The first additions to the building took place from 1909 until 1912 and added space for both the library and the public museum.
This work was also designed by Ferry & Clas, whose partnership was dissolved in 1912. Interestingly, while some of the drawings contain the name of the firm, some of the exterior plans name only George Bowman Ferry as architect.
One of the first rooms in the current Centennial Hall complex to open was the Masters Room, which served as a meeting space for the Wolcott Post of the Grand Army of the Repubic (GAR), an association of Civil War Veterans.
The post sought a space – then called the Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Hall – to which it believed it was entitled by Chapter 111, Section 1 of the Laws of Wisconsin (1897), which authorized cities to establish historical museums, “pertaining to the state and nation and the late civil war between the states of the United States.”
The GAR continued to meet in the space – now a 35-seat meeting room named in honor of local industrialist C.L. Masters – until 1941.
The room contains a number of paintings by Louise Lemp Pabst, the daughter of a St. Louis brewer, who married into the family of a Milwaukee beer baron. Pabst was well-known for her portraiture, and at least one is listed in the online portrait database of the National Portrait Gallery.
Next to open was the lecture hall, the large auditorium we now think of as Centennial Hall.
In a 1923-24 pamphlet, the space was described as “The Public Museum Lecture Hall. This is a hall seating 787 people, with sloping floor, a stage 28 feet wide and 12 feet deep and with a lantern booth, carrying stereopticon and motion picture apparatus; all available without charge for lectures.
"The entrance is on Eighth Street. The above name should always be used in speaking of (this) room in order to avoid confusion with the lecture rooms of the Public Library.”
According to library sources, the space was used for museum presentations of “popular travel and adventure programs for children and adults on Saturday mornings, and featured Wednesday night programs by local naturalists and travelers.”
MPM moved out of the building and into its new home across the street in 1963, at which time the travel adventure series was transferred to MATC’s Cooley Auditorium.
Later, the space was named the Koeppen-Gerlach Auditorium, in honor of married couple Phyllis Koeppen and Frederick Gerlach, who used to present lectures in the space.
The Milwaukee-born Koeppen worked in public relations and also taught at Marquette University, where she led a field-trip-heavy class called "Exploring Milwaukee."
Gerlach, a painter trained at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Milwaukee Normal School and the Layton School of Art, drew acclaim for his watercolors of Milwaukee landmarks, as well as scenes in Wisconsin, Michigan and Colorado.
He worked in advertising and also taught at Marquette, leading continuing education watercolor painting classes.
The two married in 1940 and according to the library website, “together, Koeppen and Gerlach presented illustrated dialogues accompanied by Gerlach's watercolors and drawings and Koeppen's exhaustive research conducted in great part in the Milwaukee Public Library's local history room. Both were enthusiastic supporters of the Milwaukee Public Library.”
This space – for which there are original plans from Ferry & Clas – has an ornate coffered ceiling, proscenium and lovely garlands around the door frames at the back.
The Loos Room, now a 150-seat meeting room – was used as a smaller lecture hall and meeting space and was named in honor of German-born Ludwig E. Loos.
Loos arrived in Milwaukee as a 4-year-old in 1914, and attended Hi-Mount School, Washington High School and Marquette University, before becoming an executive at Vilter Manufacturing Corp. from 1936 to 1978.
Loos was also long involved with the Bookfellows / Friends of the Milwaukee Public Library (as was Masters).
Aside from the auditorium, the most sumptuous space in the complex is the lobby, with its barrel-vaulted ceiling, grand marble staircase, inlaid marble floors and other details.
When you enter from 8th Street, one of the first things you’ll see is the tall sculpture of the mythological Greek sea nymph Ione, who was one of the 50 daughters of the Old Man of the Sea (aka Triton, Nereus or Proteus).
Donated by real estate magnate Joseph Zilber in 1987, the work was sculpted in Rome in 1878 by American artist Leonard Volk, who helped open the Chicago Academy of Design (an early iteration of the School of the Art Institute) and was known for having made, in 1860, one of only two life masks of President Abraham Lincoln.
Volk is known to have created a number of sculptures and statues of Civil War figures and for tombs, including one of his wife’s cousin, Stephen A. Douglas, for his resting place.
Later, Volk’s son, Stephen A. Douglas Volk, also an artist, studied under Jean-Léon Gérôme – you’d likely recognize Gérôme’s painting, “Two Majesties,” featuring a lion, at Milwaukee Art Museum – in Paris and later went on to help found the Minneapolis School of Design.
Nowadays, the beautiful marble staircase doesn’t really lead anywhere, but when it was built it connected to an entrance from and into the library building.
“It's very ornate now,” says Kirsten Thompson, the Milwaukee Public Library’s Manager of Arts, Humanities and Rare Books. “But that ornateness was restored in 1981 and the room reopened in 1982.”
Over the years, there had been many changes, especially in the auditorium, and the the place was “modernized” and much of the detailed decoration covered up.
In 1975, the Bookfellows (the precursor to the Friends of the Milwaukee Public Library) kicked off a campaign to raise money to restore the lecture hall facility for the library.
It was at this time that it was renamed Centennial Hall because the goal was to have it ready to reopen in time for the 100th anniversary of the Milwaukee Public Library in 1978. However, fundraising and the work took longer than expected and the $550,000 required was raised, entirely from private sources.
Pfaller & Herbst Associates with the help of Conrad Schmitt Studios brought back the original glitz while also updating electrical and HVAC systems, as well as bringing the entrance design into harmony with the building’s architecture.
An official grand opening was held Sept. 20, 1982.
Since then, it has served many purposes. I’ve seen and heard famous authors and poets read their work here – Kurt Vonnegut, Maya Angelou, Seamus Heaney, among others.
“People think of it as a place to hold plays and that sort of thing,” Thompson says, “but there’s nothing backstage. There are no dressing rooms.”
And when we go and see for ourselves, she’s, of course, correct. There is no fly loft for scenery, inches behind the back curtain is a solid wall, the only rooms you’ll find off the wings are two small bathrooms, one on either side of the stage, up a flight of stairs.
Underneath the stage is a low-ceilinged space for mechanicals. And that’s it.
There is a projection room at the back of the auditorium, however, so the space can be used for films and A/V presentations.
The two other spaces – the Masters and Loos Rooms – also are frequently used for meetings and smaller events.
The Masters Room has a beautiful vintage billiards table that, like the piano in the auditorium, was donated, as well as those Louise Lemp Pabst paintings. But it also has its original hardwood floor, which gives it a nice ambience.
The Loos Room has some decorative features – including wainscoting and other woodwork, as well as an elegant exposed-beam ceiling – but the most eye-catching is the wooden screen with a series of figures carved into the panels.
Sometimes, says Thompson, the entire three-room facility is rented for things like conferences that will use the smaller rooms as break-out space.
“It does get used a lot,” says Thompson. “This is one of the few spaces currently that there's a fee to use. But some of the smaller independent high schools use it. They don't have auditoriums and they have their graduation or other ceremonies here.
"Book authors will come in. Other city departments use this space when there's civil service testing. It gets used by library staff.
“There's a variety of things. It is in constant use.”
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
