Located at 1584 North Prospect Avenue, Milwaukee's historic McIntosh|Goodrich Mansion is an elegant venue for concerts as well as wedding receptions and events. Home of the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music since 1934, the mansion is filled with music on a daily basis with music classes and lessons, as well as ensemble rehearsals. Faculty and guest concerts as well as student recitals take place in
the elegant and intimate setting of the Helen Bader Recital Hall, which seats 125. HISTORY
In 1903, industrialist Charles McIntosh purchased the Prospect Avenue bluff property and razed the home that had been there to build a neo-classic, eclectic-style mansion at a princely sum. Chicago architect H.R. Wilson designed the home using the finest materials available and it took 15 months to build before McIntosh and his wife and two children moved into the 22,000-square-foot home, which features 10 fireplaces and 13 bedrooms. McIntosh died in 1911 and in 1921, his wife sold the mansion to William Osborne Goodrich, a linseed oil heir who was married to Marie Best Pabst, the oldest daughter of “beer baron” Captain Frederick Pabst. Goodrich was a talented singer and at the age of 30 went to Europe to study voice. In 1932, the Goodrich family moved to their new home in the “country” (Fox Point) and leased the home to the Wisconsin College of Music. Upon Mrs. Goodrich’s death, the family sold the building to the College. This description of the building appeared in The Evening Wisconsin in 1904:
“The seven-bay, three-story exterior of the building features a circular driveway, dark red Galesburg paving brink, a monumental four-column Corinthian portico, Michigan raindrop brownstone trim with copper cornices and a tile roof. The portico shelters the fully glazed, double entrance doors, which are surmounted by a wrought iron, railed balcony supported on brownstone consoles. Some of the windows have curved glass to accentuate the curved bay windows in the first-floor dining room and the second-floor bedroom.”
In honor of the Conservatory’s 100th Anniversary, the McIntosh-Goodrich mansion was fully renovated in 1999-2000 restoring the home to its original elegance while making the facilities both more up-to-date and more accessible to our community.
