Mackie Building facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Mackie Building
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Mackie Building
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 Location in Wisconsin
Location in the United States
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| Location | 225 E. Michigan St. Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
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| Area | 0.5 acres (0.20 ha) |
| Built | 1879 |
| Architect | E. Townsend Mix |
| Architectural style | Victorian |
| NRHP reference No. | 73000084 |
| Added to NRHP | April 3, 1973 |
The Mackie Building is a really cool old building in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was designed by a famous architect named E. Townsend Mix and built way back in 1879. This building was once home to Milwaukee's important Grain Exchange, where people traded grain, and it even had the very first "trading pit." Because of its history and unique design, the Mackie Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
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A Look Back: The Mackie Building's History
The Mackie Building was first known as the Chamber of Commerce Building or the Grain Exchange. It was built in 1879 by Alexander Mitchell, who was a U.S. Representative (a person elected to help make laws for the country). He built it as an "investment property," meaning he hoped it would make money for him. In the 1970s, the building was carefully fixed up and restored to its original beauty.
What the Mackie Building Looks Like
The outside of the Mackie Building still looks much like it did when E. Townsend Mix designed it. It's five and a half stories tall, with a tall tower right above the main entrance that reaches 160 feet into the sky!
The first floor is made of strong, gray granite stone. Above that, the building uses gray sandstone and limestone. If you look closely, you'll see that the windows on each floor are a bit different, but they all fit together with bands of different colors and textures. The roof is a special kind called a Mansard roof, which has a unique sloped shape. The entrance on the north side has granite columns and cool carvings of the Great Seal of Wisconsin (the official symbol of the state) and symbols of a bull and a bear.
The Famous Grain Exchange
The most important part of the Mackie Building was the Grain Exchange. This was a huge room, three stories tall, designed in a simple Italian style. It had very high ceilings, beautiful hand-painted pictures on the walls (called frescoes), and shiny gold leaf decorations. The room was enormous, covering over 10,000 square feet!
The Grain Exchange was super important to Milwaukee's early business history. For a short time, Milwaukee was actually the biggest place in the world for trading, selling, and checking grain! Because Milwaukee's lake port was close to huge fields of wheat, the Grain Exchange was built right there. They even invented the very first eight-sided "trading pit," which is where people would stand to buy and sell grain. The Grain Exchange was busy from 1880 until 1935.
The Mackie Building is right next to another historic building called the Mitchell Building. This building was also built by Alexander Mitchell and designed by E. Townsend Mix, and it's also on the National Register of Historic Places!
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