Two East Side art museums are poised to end their unhappy arranged marriage and strike out on different paths toward greater independence from Milwaukee County government.
County administrators are recommending that supervisors approve a pair of deals to restructure the Charles Allis and Villa Terrace art museums under separate nonprofit management. Both deals eventually would phase out county ownership and financial support of the buildings and their art collections.
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Although some details remain subject to change, one tentative agreement calls for the Friends of Villa Terrace to lease that building for $1 a year for three years and to take over operations and day-to-day maintenance, backed by a county operating subsidy of $112,554 in 2025 and $40,000 a year for the next three years.
From 2026 through 2028, the county would contribute $400,000 a year, or $1.2 million total, for the most critical major repairs at Villa Terrace, matched by an equal amount that the Friends would raise from donors.
The Friends hope to raise a total of $3 million to $4 million, including the county money, to address other capital issues and build up an endowment, says Doug Rose, chairman of the Friends board. Other plans call for diversifying the art collection and expanding programming, while remaining an event venue and continuing Cafe Sopre Mare outdoor concerts, Rose says.
Long focused on the Villa Terrace gardens, the Friends group is transforming itself to handle expanded fundraising and operating responsibilities, Rose says.
“The Villa’s already a jewel,” Rose says. “I think we can make it an absolutely sparkling jewel for the city.”
If all goes well, the Friends could own Villa Terrace after three years.
A separate deal would lease Charles Allis to the nonprofit that now runs both museums, for one year at $1. During that year, Charles Allis Villa Terrace Inc. would continue to operate and maintain the building, with a $112,554 county operating subsidy, while changing its name and restructuring itself to take ownership of the Allis building.
If the nonprofit accepts ownership of the building and art collection, it would receive county operating subsidies of $185,000 in 2026, $165,000 in 2027 and $150,000 in 2028, plus county contributions of $250,000 each in 2026 and 2027 to fix the museum’s most critical capital needs.
But if the organization decides not to move forward after 2025, the county would give the Allis art collection to Villa Terrace, then sell the Allis building and give the proceeds to Villa Terrace to take care of the Allis art.
With Executive Director Jaymee Harvey Willms on maternity leave, CAVT staff referred questions to Interim Director Marquayla Ellison, who did not respond to interview requests.
County Economic Development Director Celia Benton, whose staff negotiated both deals, says she sees “a bright and successful future for both museums.”
“I think it’s a good deal for Milwaukee County,” says Supervisor Sheldon Wasserman, whose district includes both museums. “It’s a pathway to move into the future.”
Wasserman chairs the County Board’s Parks and Culture Committee, which is expected to consider the issue Dec. 3.
Both museums are located in mansions once owned by Milwaukee industrial titans. Charles Allis, the first president of Allis-Chalmers Co., lived with his wife Sarah at 1801 N. Prospect Ave. Lloyd Smith, the former president of A.O. Smith Corp., and his wife Agnes lived at 2220 N. Terrace Ave.
After their husbands died, Sarah Ball Allis bequeathed her home and art collection to the Milwaukee Public Library and Agnes Smith Curtis donated Villa Terrace to the Milwaukee Art Museum. Each museum eventually was transferred to the county and wound up as part of the War Memorial Corp., which included the Marcus Performing Arts Center as well as the lakefront building that houses much of the Milwaukee Art Museum.
When the umbrella organization was broken up in 2012, the two small museums were placed under the joint management of the new nonprofit CAVT, while remaining in county ownership.
It didn’t go well. A 2022 Wisconsin Policy Forum report detailed the financial challenges that both museums faced, including the deferred maintenance crisis that affects all county buildings. From 2007 through 2024, the county spent $2 million on major repairs, but county staff estimates another $18 million is needed.
Villa Terrace, with its spectacular lakefront location, draws more business as a venue for weddings and other events, while Charles Allis struggles with lack of parking in its more densely populated neighborhood. The Policy Forum report found neither could support itself at that time without taxpayer subsidies.
Even worse, the Policy Forum report noted, the museums had maintained separate support groups, each with seats on the CAVT board, leading to rivalry and internal tensions. The Friends of Charles Allis was disbanded in 2022.
“These two museums haven’t been aligned,” says Erica Goblet, the county project manager who negotiated the agreements. “It really makes sense for them to be separate.”
The separation could help both museums strengthen their individual identities and fundraising bases, Rose says.
Spinning off the museums is part of a long-term county strategy to reduce support for cultural institutions to focus more tax dollars on essential services.
Still, questions remain over whether the Allis museum can overcome its parking and revenue challenges, say Wasserman and Supervisor Steve Taylor, Parks and Culture Committee vice chair.
“I don’t have a lot of confidence in the Charles Allis to pull it off,” Taylor says.
Both deals have evolved from the original proposals submitted by the Friends of Villa Terrace and CAVT, which sought more county operating and capital support. That had Taylor pushing for alternate proposals to sell Villa Terrace to Bartolotta Restaurant Group as a “high-end hospitality venue” or to sell both buildings to Dynamic Events, which proposed turning Villa Terrace into an event venue and Charles Allis into a boutique luxury hotel.
In an earlier interview, Wasserman called the Charles Allis “the most endangered cultural institution in the city at this time.”
With the revised deal, Wasserman says, using the terminology for living species, “I don’t think (the Allis is) critically endangered, but they’re threatened.”
Editor’s note: No permanent rebranding of the Charles Allis Art Museum is planned as of now. An earlier version of this story contained incorrect information.
