You give no “style” as to the DOWNER in Milwaukee, but as a local theatres historian, I can tell you that it is best described as ‘Quasi-Prairie Style’ and when I can submit a near opening day facade photo, you will see what I mean. While it was never really a movie palace, it was built to show movies and had a minimal stage without flytower for local events. The decor was/is basic pilaster and box beam design, but the pilaster capitols and the intersections of the grid of box beams were adorned with ornament that was right out of Louis Sullivan. The chandeliers and the 2-manual, 8-rank Wurlitzer pipe organ are gone as is the stage, but when it was split into two rooms they did retain some of the atmosphere of the original. It was designed and built in 1915 by local architect Martin Tullgren who also designed the SAVOY and his son Herbert designed the SHERMAN just 15 years later. A 1917 facade photo of the DOWNER (named after the street it is on) can be seen on page 41 of Larry Widen’s 1986 book MILWAUKEE MOVIE PALACES, which is due to be republished in an enlarged edition in the not too distant future.
You give no “style” as to the DOWNER in Milwaukee, but as a local theatres historian, I can tell you that it is best described as ‘Quasi-Prairie Style’ and when I can submit a near opening day facade photo, you will see what I mean. While it was never really a movie palace, it was built to show movies and had a minimal stage without flytower for local events. The decor was/is basic pilaster and box beam design, but the pilaster capitols and the intersections of the grid of box beams were adorned with ornament that was right out of Louis Sullivan. The chandeliers and the 2-manual, 8-rank Wurlitzer pipe organ are gone as is the stage, but when it was split into two rooms they did retain some of the atmosphere of the original. It was designed and built in 1915 by local architect Martin Tullgren who also designed the SAVOY and his son Herbert designed the SHERMAN just 15 years later. A 1917 facade photo of the DOWNER (named after the street it is on) can be seen on page 41 of Larry Widen’s 1986 book MILWAUKEE MOVIE PALACES, which is due to be republished in an enlarged edition in the not too distant future.