One of Milwaukee’s largest employers and biggest sources of philanthropy, Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. has been a pillar of the community for 150 years. Yet the restoration plans for its historic Downtown building, say experts, could ruin a great work of architecture.
Constructed in 1914, the Marshall & Fox-designed neoclassical building on Wisconsin Avenue boasts 10 74-foot high, 422-ton columns with Greek Corinthian treatments, and is crowned by a majestic granite cornice. The company’s plans for the cornice – part of a $30 million restoration project – are causing controversy.
In a 2004 feasibility study, leaked to Milwaukee Magazine,local engineering firm Inspec recommended using the original material – granite – to restore the cornice. NML hired Inspec, but rejected the study’s advice, opting for glass fiber reinforced concrete (GFRC), a lightweight, newer material some experts say doesn’t belong on historic buildings.
Paul Jakubovich, preservation planner for Milwaukee’s Department of City Development, says he’s heard of partial restorations using GFRC, but “as far as a complete [granite] cornice being replaced, that’s unprecedented.” Federal guidelines for preservation discourage the use of GFRC when original materials are available.
“Granite is for the ages,” says one industry expert. “GFRC is a 50- to 75-year product.”
“There’s no question granite would hold up a lot better,” agrees Robert Forrer, president of Spray-O-Bond Co., a Milwaukee contractor specializing in historic restoration projects such as St. Josaphat’s Basilica and the Pabst Mansion. Forrer won’t work with GFRC because it’s not a historic material.
GFRC can also fade over time. Inspec’s report predicted GFRC “will likely change color with age at a different rate than … the building’s granite cladding,” resulting “in a distinct difference between the upper and lower portions of the building … which could be aesthetically unpleasing.”
NML’s building is a “masterpiece” that could qualify for local landmark status, says architect Matt Jarosz, a member of Milwaukee’s Historic Preservation Commission. Jakubovich agrees: “There’s a tremendous amount of handwork, just a remarkable amount of craftsmanship. There really isn’t anything else like it in Milwaukee.”
Products like GFRC have become more durable in recent years, says Jarosz. Yet, “How many kinds of false materials do we put on buildings before they lose their authenticity? At what point do you say, ‘We’re looking at a Disneyland re-creation.’?”
Despite initially recommending against GFRC, Ziad Salameh, director of engineering for Inspec, now says his company can make it work. “It’s going to be a match. We spent a lot of time and effort to get to that level.”
But NML’s decision to take this route, says Jarosz, will impact the entire city. “If a corporation like NML feels they can’t afford to do it, how can we expect those little guys – a store owner on Mitchell Street – to conform to preservation standards?”
NML could be eligible for up to a 25 percent federal-state tax credit, but might be required to use granite to meet preservation standards. Company officials, however, claim cost isn’t an issue.
Instead, they told Journal Sentinel urban landscape critic Whitney Gould their main reason for using GFRC was the difficulty of finding an exact match for the old granite.
Gould didn’t question the claim, but preservation experts are highly skeptical.
The company was able to find a match in 1982, when a prior cornice restoration project used existing and new granite, according to Inspec’s 2004 report.
And experts question why NML has opted to replace the entire cornice in the current project when, according to the Inspec report, 75 percent of the original granite could be salvaged.
NML spokesperson Jean Towell says the public simply needs to trust in NML. “We’re a company that would do obviously what’s going to last … because this building is so valuable to us.”
Architectural historian and restoration consultant H. Russell Zimmermann begs to differ. “They’re about to commit mayhem on one of the best buildings in the city. I haven’t been this angry since the Plankinton mansions disappeared.”
