Pabst Mansion Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Significant dates

Frederick Pabst House
U.S. National Register of Historic Places


Location in Wisconsin Show map of Wisconsin Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Location	2000 W. Wisconsin Ave. Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Area	1.5 acres
Built	1892
Architect	George Ferry
Architectural style	Flemish Renaissance Revival
NRHP reference No.	75000073
Added to NRHP	April 21, 1975

The Pabst Mansion is a beautiful, old house in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. It was built in 1892 for Captain Frederick Pabst, who started the famous Pabst Brewing Company. This amazing house looks like buildings from the Renaissance period in Europe. In 1975, it became a special historic place. Today, you can visit the Pabst Mansion and take tours to see what life was like long ago!

The Story of the Pabst Mansion
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The Story of the Pabst Mansion

Frederick Pabst's Journey

Frederick Pabst came to Milwaukee from Germany when he was 12 years old in 1848. He started working on steamships on Lake Michigan as a cabin boy. He worked very hard and became a captain in 1857!

In 1862, Captain Pabst married Maria Best. Her father owned Best and Company, a very large brewery in Milwaukee. Just two years later, Frederick joined the family business.

He quickly became a leader in the company. By 1874, Best & Co. was the biggest brewery in the United States. In 1889, the company changed its name to the Pabst Brewing Company.

Building a Grand Home

Around 1890, Captain Pabst decided to build a grand home. He hired George Bowman Ferry, a Milwaukee architect, to design it. The house was designed in the Flemish Renaissance Revival style.

Construction of the mansion began on June 27, 1890. It took two years to build this amazing house. The house has three stories and is made of brick. It has fancy carved stone and terra cotta decorations.

A special part of the Flemish Renaissance Revival style is its balanced look. It also has unique shaped walls on the roof called parapets. Inside, there was a special room for men and another for ladies.

New Owners and Public Access

The Pabst family lived in the mansion from 1892 until 1908. After that, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee bought the house. They moved a beautiful glass room, called a conservatory, to the east side of the house. They used it as the archbishop's chapel.

For the next 67 years, five Archbishops and many priests and sisters lived there. In 1975, the Archdiocese decided to sell the mansion. They hoped a group that saves old buildings would buy it.

In 1978, a group called Wisconsin Heritages, Inc., bought the mansion. This was great news because the house was going to be torn down for a parking lot! The mansion opened to the public in May 1978.

In 1998, Wisconsin Heritages, Inc., changed its name to Captain Frederick Pabst Mansion, Inc. Today, the mansion is open every day for tours.

The mansion has even been featured on TV! It was used for holiday commercials for a store called Boston Store in the 1980s. It also appeared briefly in the TV show How I Met Your Mother in 2008.

Saving History: Preservation Efforts

One of the first rooms to be restored was the main Dining Room. The archdiocese had painted the ceiling and walls white. To find the original colors, restorers carefully took down three large mirrors.

They found the original paint colors underneath the mirrors! This helped them repaint the rest of the room exactly as it was before.

More recently, efforts have focused on the Master Suite. In 2011, experts studied the paint on the ceilings of the Master Bedroom and Sitting Room. They found hidden palm fronds painted directly onto the ceiling!

They used old pictures from around 1900 to find where these designs were. This helped them bring back the original beauty of the rooms. The latest restoration work in Emma's Room, also known as the Regency Room, is now finished.