Last spring, we went inside the former Concordia College campus in the Concordia neighborhood west of Downtown and saw some really cool buildings, especially the Beaux Arts Albrecht Hall, designed by Eugene Liebert.
The Forest County Potawatomi, which owns the Wgema Campus – as it is now called – has since begun work on Albrecht and neighboring Rickner Library, designed by Sheboygan architect A. Stubenrauch. The buildings had been clumsily connected, but recent work has rectified that, pulling down the connector.
The Wgettha (which means "warrior" in Potwatomi) Building project is expected to cost about $14 million and be complete by November. It is the first phase in a $30 million, five-year project to renovate all the historic buildings on the Wgema Campus.
Here are some photos of the ongoing work, taken by Brandon J. Brown with Roost:
1. Concrete slab removal in the garden level of Albrecht Hall
2. Removal of the connector between Albrecht Hall and Rickner Library
3. The connector is gone!
4. Exterior masonry cleaning at Albrecht Hall
5. Installation of new water and sewer lines
6. New drain tile and foundation work at Albrecht Hall
7. Work to reconfigure space in the Rickner Library
8. Historically accurate brick replacement at Albrecht Hall
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.
