Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Grand Theater Renovation

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After long being a tenant elsewhere, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in 2015 purchased the building that is now its new home. Originally completed in 1931 as a vaudevillian theater, the building had sat idle on Wisconsin Avenue and 2nd Street for almost 20 years. Many of its features were showing their age. But, amazinlgy enough, its interior frescos, nickel-plated hardware, light fixtures and art-deco styling remained largely intact. Most importantly, its performance space was found, through extensive acoustical testing, to be ideal for concert performance.

With GRAEF leading the MEP design team, the building underwent a $75 million renovation that included a two-story addition at the northwest corner of Wisconsin Avenue and Second Street, as well as a three-story addition along its north side. In order to convert the vaudevillian stage into one that could accommodate a full symphony orchestra, the building’s east wall was moved 30 feet into the street, causing Second Street to become one way.

Because the building had sat empty and idle for almost 20 years, it required extensive remodeling. It housed not only a performance space but also a 12-story office tower, which was built in the 1930s and had neither air conditioning nor an adequate electrical-distribution system. The tower above the building will house MSO’s administrative offices, music library and chorus warm-up area.