Design for Living: The Brooks and Alice Stevens House

Join us on Tuesday, November 18, for Docomomo Wisconsin’s From the Archives Lecture Series, presented in partnership with AIA Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Public Library, and the Wisconsin Architectural Archive.

Exhibition Opens: 4:30 PM
Lecture Begins: 5:00 PM

Event Description

Industrial designer Brooks Stevens was a visionary who helped define American modernism—creating “smart product design” for businesses that would appeal to consumers and stimulate sales for everything from home appliances to automobiles. His 1939 Fox Point residence, designed with architect Fitzhugh Scott Jr., stands as a rare and remarkable example of Streamline Moderne domestic architecture in Wisconsin.

This illustrated talk explores the Brooks and Alice Stevens House as both a personal statement and a prototype for living in the Machine Age. The lecture is a biography of a house that was devised to express Brooks’ personal brand while creating a comfortable place for family life. Through archival photographs, drawings, and insight by Lecturer Michael Bridgeman, the presentation situates the house within 1930s modernism—where form, function, and personality aligned to create a home “as modern as tomorrow.”

Speaker

Long before retiring from PBS Wisconsin in 2012, Michael Bridgeman had a keen interest in historic architecture. He has been a dedicated volunteer with the Madison Trust for Historic Preservation for more than forty years by serving on its board, preparing and leading Historic Architecture Walking Tours, and (over the last six years) writing more than fifty web posts about Madison area architecture. Bridgeman has hosted two PBS Wisconsin programs highlighting notable historic buildings across the state, done research for preservation consultants, and worked part-time in the State Historic Preservation Office. He and his spouse live in an 1899 stone farmhouse near Sauk City.

Collaborators:

Wisconsin Architectural Archives, Milwaukee Public Library, Docomomo Wisconsin, Wisconsin AIA

Info: Check in at 4:30. View rare materials from the archives. Lecture begins at 5.00pm

Info: Gather with us at Stella's Dive Bar after the event to socialize and celebrate!

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Milwaukee Public Library Central Library, Frank P. Zeidler Humanities Room, 2nd floor, 814 West Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee, United States

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