So you’re driving along Lincoln Memorial Drive and you look way up the hill and you see this Italian Renaissance villa? Not what you’d expect to see along Lake Michigan in southeast Wisconsin.
Marketing director for Villa Terrace, Caroline Dannecker, sat down with me and gave me the lowdown on this location as well as the Charles Allis Art Museum.
“Lloyd and Agnes Smith [of A.O. Smith fame] traveled to Italy together and Agnes saw the wonderful Renaissance style villas there and she said, ‘Lloyd, I want one and I want it in Wisconsin.’ They came back and they commissioned David Adler to build them a Renaissance style Italian villa. And that’s how we get Villa Terrace Art Museum. And in the 40s, there is this transition. Lloyd passes away. Agnes moves out of the home. It sits empty relatively for most of the year. So when she hears that the war memorial needs more space for its art. She says, well, I have this beautiful empty home, which exemplifies craftsmanship. I’m going to donate my home to become an art museum,” explains Dannecker.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
She says, “We do have a historic decorative arts collection. And then we host contemporary craft and decorative arts exhibitions throughout the year.”
Not only that, but it’s one of the premier wedding venues in the city. But Italian Renaissance here? Why Wisconsin?
Dannecker says, “Well. They’re based here. Lloyd worked for the A.O. Smith Company. The family had two properties and David Adler looks at these and he goes, ‘well, if you fell in love with the Mediterranean, then obviously we’re choosing this site that’s on the bluffs of Lake Michigan’,”
Well, what about the Charles Allis Art Museum?
“They were incredibly wealthy industrialists and socialites with interests in art. The name may sound familiar in terms of West Allis,” explains Dannecker
That’s right. It’s that Charles Allis of Allis Chalmers fame.
“They were incredible art collectors, so they were in love with art and they built their home to be an art museum. They built it knowing that they were going to give it to Milwaukee someday.” says Dannecker
So both locations were private homes and both collections were donated to the city of Milwaukee to give the citizens the opportunity to learn even more about culture.
She continues, “There’s art to be seen in Wisconsin. And when you see that art, it reflects our community. It reflects our history. It reflects the peoples who have lived here. That’s where we’re seen. And Museum Days is a chance. If you haven’t taken that chance before, to take advantage and see the city, see what it has to offer and really experience the culture and the arts available here.”
Don’t miss out on checking out these beautiful spaces. It’s a pretty good deal.
They have admission reciprocity, so if you buy a ticket to one museum, you get admission to the other. It’s typically $15, but you can get in for $5 during Museum Days. And of course, children 12 and under are always free there.
And don’t worry, you still have plenty of time to visit these as well as all the area museums participating in this year’s Museum Days event. It runs through January 28th.
Click here for more information about the Charles Allis Art Museum and Villa Terrace. Or check out all the museums participating in Museum Days 2024 here.
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