Milwaukee City Hall

OK, this looked cooler in person. I guess it was too hazy. The Milwaukee City Hall is undergoing exterior restoration. The entire exterior of the building is covered with scaffolding, giving it a fascinating tinker toy look. I get a twinge in my gut everytime I think about walking around on those exposed scaffoldings 350 feet in the air. Wiki has this to say about it:

The Milwaukee City Hall is one of the oldest standing skyscrapers. The building, which rose to 353 ft (108 m), was finished in 1895. The upper part of the tower was rebuilt after a fire in October 1929.

Hmmm... never thought of it as a skyscraper before. I guess the criteria were a bit less back prior to the 20th century. Turns out M'waukee's city hall was very cutting edge! A view of the city hall prior to the start of rennovations appears at left. There's a pointless official renovation page here. Oh, and Skyscraper City Forums has this to say about it:

Upon completion, Milwaukee's City Hall was the third-tallest building in the world. It opened in in 1898 at a 'soaring' 350 feet. It's fifteen minutes of fame came in the 1970's, when it was featured in the opening credits of Lavergne & Shirley, a popular US Sitcom. For those who remember the show, the "Welcome to Milwaukee" sign has been removed, but City Hall still serves as a major point of interest downtown.

Third largest in the world! Holy cow! Very cutting edge. I'll look at it with new respect once it re-emerges from it's cocoon. Anyway... it's a cool old building inside and out. Lots of faces and ornamentation on the outside, and that great old marble-floored feel with an open central gallery. I've always like it, and I'm glad they're renovating.