The Pabst Theater - Milwaukee, WI
N 43° 02.464 W 087° 54.607
16T E 425867 N 4765777
The Pabst Theater was built in 1895 and has been a venue for live performances since. It is located at 144 East Wells St in Milwaukee, WI
Waymark Code: WM39Q0
Location: Wisconsin, United States
Date Posted: 03/02/2008
Views: 46
From Wisconsin: A Guide to the Badger State (pg. 254):
"The Pabst Theater, 144 E. Wells St., once the home of the German repertory theater (see The Theater), remains as an example of ponderous German Renaissance architecture; with its grilled iron sidewalk canopy, it has an Old World appearance. Built in 1895 by Otto Straack for Captain Frederick Pabst, the theater was one of the first buildings in the northwest to provide unobstructed vision of the stage by eliminating interior columns and supports. The Pabst now houses concerts, occcasional road shows, travel lectures, and German photoplays."
From Wisconsin: A Guide to the Badger State (pp. 169):
"In 1890 Captain Frederick Pabst bought the Grand Opera House and reconditioned it in order to provide the German theater with a more commodious home. At this time the organization began adapting itself to the rising school of naturalism in acting. This was necessary, for it was apparent that the older technique - suitable for the rhetorical type of drama then in vogue - could not portray the realities and psychological subtleties of the "new drama" born in Norway"
The historical marker on the building reads:
"Designed by Otto Strack and built by Milwaukee brewing magnate Captain Frederick Pabst, the Pabst Theater was constructed on the site of an earlier opera house destroyed by fire in 1895. The Pabst was completed in just six months and opened November 9, 1895. One of the first all-electric theaters, the Pabst also included such innovations as air conditioning and fire proof construction. The Pabst was home to one of the finest German theater companies in the United States and epitomized German culture in Wisconsin while also featuring this nation's greatest artists on its stage."
Current situation:
The theater is still a venue for concerts