Milwaukee

Tropical

I've been to the Mitchell Park Domes several times, most recently during a visit in April of 2018 by my Mother and brother. I'd taken the Friday off and Mom and I went to explore the Domes. The weather was phenomenally crap - it sleeted pretty much the entire weekend and the winds were quite strong. The Domes were a lovely place to spend the morning on a late Winter (definitely not an early Spring) day. On the whole, the place reminds me a little (a lot, really) of the botanical space arks from the film "Silent Running", a film our parents took us to see as (far too young) children. The film is a sad and traumatizing story about the last of the future Earth's plants being preserved under geodesic domes on orbiting spacecraft. As described individually below, three huge geodesic domes make up the complex. They house tropic and arid environments and a changing seasonal exhibit space. The tropical dome is my favorite. Lush greenery towers overhead, framing views of the marvellous, tessellated surface of the dome above. In the middle of the dome, nestled among the paths and plantings is a lovely little pond stocked with koi. I was sorry to see that the immense Kapok Tree was no more. All that remains is a stump. I remember that tree towering so high it almost grazed the inner surface of the dome. I should try to find out what happened to that tree. If only there was some sort of global information blah, blah, blah.

Arid

The arid dome, by virtue of the fact that few of the plants are very tall, has a much more open feel. Paths wind among plantings of cacti and other succulents, framed by the sprayed-concrete fake rocks one finds in such places. One of my favorite exhibits in this dome is a lovely stand of Bird of Paradise plants, the outlandish blooms nodding in agreement at visitors' expressions of admiration. Mom and I sat down on one fo the benches along the walking path and enjoyed simply gazing around at the incredible variety of plants. Our reverie was interrupted by the arrival of a school field trip, every member of which was shouting.

Show

The weather was phenomenally crap - it sleeted pretty much the entire weekend...

The show dome is quite nice. They had their usual beds of Spring flowers in place. The country-with-a-K gazebo looks a little out of place in the Domed City of Logan's Run. I seem to remember being there once when there was a huge model railroad set up. Perhaps I only dreamed it.

There are a number of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings in our area (he was born in Wisconsin and spent periods of his life there) - we've been to Wingspread and the Johnson Wax Center in Racine, his home and studio in Spring Green, and the Monona Center in Madison. We'd never been to the group of homes on Burnham Avenue in Milwaukee, however, and when we saw that they were going to be a feature of that year's "Open Doors Milwaukee", we decided to make it part of my birthday treat.

The entire length of the south side of that one block on Burnham Avenue consists of two bungalows and four duplexes designed by Wright. The structures were built by a local contractor to plans by Wright for affordable, beautifully designed dwellings. One of the bungalows is furnished and appointed according to Wright's original specs and was one of the two buildings one could tour. The interior spaces, while snug, are very elegant, with ingenious space-saving features like tables that fold down and a wonderful breakfast nook. The duplex we toured had been altered somewhat from the original plan but was still a beautiful and intriguing structure. Amazingly, one of the privately owned duplexes is in a state of neglect and the Burnham Block is trying to buy it from its owner who seems to have no interest in preserving it.

Our second stop on our "Open Doors Milwaukee" afternoon was the Cathedral of Saint Josaphat on the South Side. It's an amazing building, both for its beauty and for the story of its origin. When the Polish community was looking to build a church, they learned of the pending demolition of a recently built but structurally flawed post office building in Chicago and purchased the materials. The structure was dismantled and shipped to Milwaukee in rail cars and subsequently formed a large part of the new basilica. The church is exquisitely decorated with murals, mosaics and stained glass and is a working church as well as a concert venue. I'd heard it was a beautiful space but had never actually made it to one of the many concerts that takes place there, particularly at the holidays.