Doors Open MKE 2018

I love everything about this event. For an entire weekend in September, nearly 175 buildings are free to enter and open to the public. There's everything from guided tours to pamphlet assisted self-guided tours to spots where you simply stop in and have a look around. We got to see inside places that we would never have otherwise had the opportunity to see. It's an amazing opportunity to get to know Milwaukee a little bit better (even if you're native to Milwaukee!) and the stories behind some of the beautiful buildings and architecture in our fair city.The stops we made this year were:+All Saints' Episcopal Cathedral+Ambassador Hotel+Basilica of St. Josaphat+Calvary Cemetery Chapel+Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist+The Fire Station on Broadway (the oldest fire company in Milwaukee, founded in 1839)+Frank Lloyd Wright's Burnham Block--American System-Built Homes+Summerfield United Methodist ChurchAll the stops were extraordinary in their own way. My favorite was the Basilica. I had never been inside and it's breathtaking. Frank Lloyd Wright's Burnham Block was also fascinating and probably the most heavily guided of all the places we explored. My son enjoyed the Calvary Cemetery Chapel the most for the creep factor (a small chapel on the top of a hill surrounded by graves and containing crumbling tombs? He was delighted).Pro tip: They have a website which details all the stops. Our plan was to utilize that throughout the day to figure out where to go. However, (due to high volume traffic, I'm sure) the website was super slow on Sunday when we went. So, we used it to figure out our first stop (Ambassador Hotel) and then picked up the Doors Open paper guide there (which has all the same info as the website and each stop had a stack of them).I am seriously already looking forward to next year.Get to it!

Review 2400!!Doors Open is one of my favorite MKE events, mostly because I am a huge nerd who loves architecture and our beautiful city! Fortunately I managed to marry a man who loves MKE history too, so we try to never miss this weekend. If you have not gone here are some of the stops I've really enjoyed: *Masonic temple on 30th and Wisconsin*Frank Lloyd Wright homes on Burnham*The Federal Courthouse*The model RR club in an old train station - this is the first year they've participated an it's truly a hidden gem! *Tge Joan of Arc chapel on MU's campus It's free, it's fun - be a tourist in your own town! Historic Milwaukee does a great job pulling this together every year - it just gets bigger and better. Many thanks to all the volunteers and docents who help make this event what it is. Also, they now have a mini block party on Michigan Ave - don't miss having a tasty drink from Swinging Door and a delicious empanadas from the Olano's cart!

My son and I love to hit up Doors Open Milwaukee for a behind the scenes look into some of Milwaukee's most fascinating businesses, landmarks, public buildings and churches. Doors Open is a mix of self-guided or guided tours, with most of the tours being free as you walk up. Some tours are ticketed, and some carry a small cost, so plan ahead. This year we didn't go hogwild, but hit up:- Coakley Brothers - Iron Horse Hotel- 88.9 Radio Milwaukee Studios - Northwestern Mutual- Frank Lloyd Wright, American Systems Built Homes, Burnham Block- St. Nikola Serbian Orthodox Church (Cudahy)We really enjoyed all the stops, this year. I had no idea that 88.9 had a green roof, or that Coakley Bros. did cutting edge office furniture. We found out that one of the FLWright homes is on Air BNB, and St. Nikola described their faith, while welcoming guests of all faiths. Make a plan! They publish a guide, which is usually also printed in the Shepherd Express. I printed off the PDF guide, which was was very helpful in making a plan and easier to use on the road, when calling an "audible" change of plans. I definitely want to do City Hall when we can get the Bell Tower Tour before it sells out. And the Federal Building looks amazing. We can't wait for this again, next year!98/2018

What a weekend! I've been attending DOMKE several years now, enjoying the opportunities to get into places we ordinarily don't have access to. The available open properties expands every year as more and more companies realize the incredible PR opportunities offered by this weekend event. I can't begin to remember all the places I've seen in past DOMKE events offhand, but some memorable ones include The Milwaukee Gas Light Company Building, Federal Building and Courthouse, top of the US Bank Building (that will always be the First Wis Bldg to me) churches, chapels, and the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music.With over 175 choices of facilities to visit and more than 30 available guided tours, it is a difficult task to decide what to see!One new facility this year was the Carma Laboratories Distribution Center in Franklin. You might know it better as Carmex, makers of the ubiquitous little white jar that anyone with chapped lips and cold sores knows is the best treatment out there. The president of the company, Paul Woelbing, also happens to be a fellow organ enthusiast, and he is building a spectacular pipe organ in the distribution center. It is a rare combination of voices that makes his organ uniquely both a classical organ and theater organ, complete with toy counter and percussions. The organ was being demonstrated during DOMKE and if you visited, you had what can only be described as a unique and rare experience!Continuing the musical side of DOMKE, today I visited Neuhaus Pianos, a shop specializing in the restoration and sales of player pianos and nickelodeons. The Neuhaus family has been restoring fabulous music machines of the 19th and early 20th Century for decades.Did you visit the Kilbourn Avenue Bridge and/or Pleasant Street Bridge? You would have seen how Milwaukee's movable river bridges operate, with safety always the top priority. The Kilbourn bridge is a twin-leaf bascule bridge while the Pleasant Street bridge is a platform lift bridge. Both are typical of the moving bridges that span the three rivers that flow through Milwaukee - and thanks to DOMKE, you can see them in operation as the operator sees them.For me, the highlight of the weekend was a tour of the Milwaukee Fire & Police Academy on North Teutonia. It's good enough it should have a review of its own! Once an all-girls Catholic high school, the building was acquired by the city when the school closed in the early 1970s. Little has changed except for the addition of a few details not usually found in high schools, like a street scene with real cars, a gun range and a tavern. (Strictly for training purposes!) The very informative tour explained how police officers are trained both mentally and physically, and included a demonstration of how a high-risk traffic stop is performed. Several young recruits were arrested several times yesterday! Lucky participants even got to play with squad car lights and sirens. Little known is that there is a civilian's police training program offered several times a year, where you can see how officers are trained and end up with a better understanding of what happens on the streets of Milwaukee.Doors Open Milwaukee is traditionally held the third weekend of September by Historic Milwaukee. The group offers a smaller version of it each spring called Spaces & Traces, which is a neighborhood tour of residences and supporting facilities. See you there next year!