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Every time I step inside the Hilton Milwaukee hotel, 509 W. Wisconsin Ave., I’m reminded again just how beautiful an example of Art Deco it is.
Designed by Chicago’s Holabird & Roche – the architects responsible for their hometown’s glorious Palmer House and Hilton hotel buildings (as well as Milwaukee's Plankinton Arcade) – the 25-story, 1927-8 hotel, built for Wisconsin hotelier Walter Schroeder (hence its original name: The Schroeder Hotel) was added to the National Register of Historic Places in May 2024.
Since that time, it’s been getting a big makeover inside – the largest such project for the Milwaukee-based Marcus Hotels & Resorts, which has owned the property since 1995 (though the Marcus family bought it in 1972).
The $42 million renovation of Milwaukee’s largest hotel – announced in December – includes the beautiful lobby; 34,000 square feet of meeting and event space; and the 554 guest rooms in the original building.
A smaller footprint
However, the December announcement of the renovation also said that the 175 rooms located in the 12-story west tower, built in 2000 to designs by Kahler Slater, will be closed and that structure potentially sold.
“It is being used all of 2025 and then it'll be removed from inventory at the end of this year,” says General Manager Jeff Stewart, who says that despite a busy summer, Marcus Hotels is not shifting course on the closing.
“It's busy every year and we know that,” he says. “We're not a 12-month destination city. So no, they're not reconsidering.”
Also still in the works is the removal of the soaring antenna atop the hotel, which – with the radio and TV tower – is the tallest structure in Downtown Milwaukee.
“(There) still are plans (for it) to be removed at some point,” he says. “It really has to do with the two helicopters. There's only a couple of helicopters in the U.S. – if they're not fighting fires – that have the capability to move it, and then coordinating it with closures of streets in the city.
“It's been a scheduling issue now for over a year, and so no new timeline, but it's starting to get a little bit of legs. There's no new update, but it is definitely happening.”
A complete makeover
Back inside, Stewart explains what’s planned for the main lobby, which is one level above the street, with a split staircase leading up from the main entrance on 5th Street.
“In my opinion it is the coolest lobby bar I've ever been around,” Stewart says of the Monarch Lounge.
“We're going to keep all the chandeliers, the floor to ceiling windows, that'll all stay the same as it looks today, but we'll just modernize the carpet. The wood is all going to stay.
“We're excited to get that one done. The intent of the entire renovation is to preserve the Art Deco feel and the history of the hotel, but modernize it where we can.”
In the lower lobby, at street level, the restaurant will get some attention.
“We serve our breakfast (in that) restaurant seven days a week,” Stewart explains.
“We're going to close that for eight weeks and basically renovate that entire restaurant. Starbucks, Miller Time Pub and the Chop House were done more recently, so those won't be done during this phase. That cafe restaurant is going to be all new, so that's the big one down there.”
The ornate, 5,670-square-foot Empire Room, off the lobby – the site of the 1940 NFL Draft on Dec. 9, 1939 – will get a refresh in December.
On the opposite side of the lobby, a Hilton Honors member lounge – formerly home to the Bombay Bicycle Club – will not be touched during this round of renovations, Stewart says.
But right now, the main Crystal Ballroom, above, is in the midst of its makeover. Work up there began in late June and is expected to be done by late July.
When I visited, crews were working on every surface in the 6,615-square-foot space with its 22-foot ceiling, painting, polishing brass and chandeliers, and replacing flooring.
With the carpet pulled up, we could see the original hardwood parquet flooring in the ballroom and black and white marble floors at the top of the regal staircase just outside the doors.
These will survive, but once again be covered with carpet.
Nearby, the more intimate 2,580-square-foot Regency Ballroom will get a lighter touch, with new carpet and the Founders Room, with its wood paneled walls and Walter Schroeder portrait, will get new furniture.
The building’s elevators are also getting an overhaul with new motors and mechanicals first.
Inside one of the cabs, as we ride toward an upper floor to check out the remodeled rooms, Stewart says, “these are all going to be modernized. Guest key card access, new (control) panels. The cabs are going to be refinished, but will look pretty much the same.”
Up on the guest room floors, the corridors are modern in clean, subtle tones.
The same is true in the rooms themselves, which have refrigerators, safes, coffee makers, bedside charging ports, modern bathroom fixtures from Kohler and, best of all, some great views in every direction.
The rooms with the best view are in the southeast corner of the building, from which you can see the lake, the skyline, the clocktower and more. But that’s just my opinion.
“Everyone has different preferences,” Stewart explains. “Some guests prefer lower floors. They don't like to wait for the elevators or whatever. High floors, city view is probably the most desired in general, but it's not like every guest requests to be on the 24th floor.”
That’s good because while floors 6-19 have 34 rooms per floor, 19-24 have just 17 rooms per floor.
Getting the job done
Stewart says it took about 12 weeks to complete a room makeover, working a floor at a time.
“There were times where we had eight floors out of inventory here and guests still were using the west wing,” he says, noting that much of the work was done over the winter when business is slower.
“But every weekend over the winter we're sold out with conventions at the Baird Center, so guests either had to stay above or below the floors that were being renovated or in the west wing, where there are still good rooms.”
He explains that the demo began on one floor and when it moved to the next level, another team stepped in on the already demolished floor and this cascaded until eight floors were under construction at a time.
“Electric, plumbing, all the different trades work kind of right behind each other,” he says. “At times there were close to 150 workers here. It went great. According to plan.”
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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. A fifth collects Urban Spelunking articles about breweries and maltsters.
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 been heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
