Art City An online journal about visual art, the urban landscape and design. Mary Louise Schumacher, the Journal Sentinel's art and architecture critic, leads the discussion and a community of writers contribute to the dialogue. SHARE

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I'm looking over the schedules and maps for Doors Open Milwaukee, the wildly popular, citywide architectural open house now in its second year, and my head is swimming. Our city has an abundance to offer and Historic Milwaukee Inc., which organizes the event, has pulled together not only a great roster of sites but a great group of experts for this year's event.

How to choose?

MAKE A PLAN

There are a lot of ways to approach Doors Open. You could choose to go deep on a particular kind of building. You know, hit the churches, the breweries, the historic hotels or the public buildings, for instance. Some of the churches are conveniently clustered, by the way. The historic buildings along Wisconsin and Michigan avenues, with some of the tallest, oldest and normally inaccessible structures, would be a good, location-based approach to a tour, too. (Plus, you could go to this). Or you could pick some other neighborhood that interests you.

Remember that President Barack Obama will be in town Saturday and that there are several other events -- including runs and festivals -- happening this weekend. So you'll want to make a solid plan, get there early and probably devise a parking strategy in advance.

THE GUIDED TOURS

The real meat of Doors Open is the in-depth tours, which you can read about in detail here. Here are some tours I'd particularly recommend.

Biking Through History on the Hank Aaron Trail. A great chance to hear about the history, from Native American to post Civil War and up to the present with the trail's very informed and passionate manager, Melissa Cook.

The Brewery --The Evolution of an Icon. I've tromped around the Pabst Brewery complex with the fabulous and -- as HMI calls him -- indefatigable Mike Mervis and can highly recommend it. This area of our downtown has been and continues to be transformed. Look for the amazing little park by DIRT.

The Iron Block Building--A Civil War Veteran Comes Back to Life. Described as "not for the faint of heart or high-heels," this tour is an up-close look at the interior and exterior of this 1860 building with facades of cast iron. You'll have to sign a waiver for this one. An adventure!

Living in a Hotel/Eloise at the Plaza. Ok, a little transparency. I own a place at the Knickerbocker and actor, storyteller, TV host and tour guide John McGivern is my crazy neighbor and the honorary mayor of the place. I recommend the tour because McGivern will have my hide if I don't but also because it will certainly be one of the more entertaining tours of Doors Open. It's a fabulous Jazz Age residency hotel that still (obviously) has a lot of charcters.

Milwaukee Art Museum: Operating the Burke Brise Soleil. Really, they should have just called this the "Flapping the Wings" tour. Everyone would get that. Still, let me tell you that the Milwaukee Art Museum's facility engineer Daniel Kehrer really may be the person who knows this building most intimately.

Revitalizing Downtown west of the River. This tour addresses one of the greatest urban design challenges Milwaukee faces. What can be done? What are the possibilities for revival? This tour also features Ald. Robert Bauman and architectural critic Tom Bamberger, who, together, may be more lively than McGivern.

What Creates Public Art Controversy? Do you know that Milwaukee is known for being pretty backward when it comes to public art? It's true. Pegi Christiansen, one of the founders of In:Site, an organization that advocates and organizes temporary public art installations, will explore what it really means to be "public" while taking you on a tour of six particularly controversial works of public art. She knows her stuff. Go.

ART-CENTRIC CHOICES

For those of you who want an art-infused Doors Open, put the ceilings here, the stained glass and paintings here, the localized art history here, this house museum, this other house museum, this house and gallery, the tapestry here, this underestimated museum, this art school, this other art school, the bronze sculpture outside (and great Platner chairs inside) this great building, this temporary exhibit, thisother temporary exhibit, this historic building with a shop/gallery in back, the venerable paintings in this venerable mansion, this hotel with an artist in residence, this historic building racked out with galleries, the photography here, this art bronze foundry in an Art Deco factory, this tea and coffee mill-turned-art gallery and of course this flapping museum on the lake on your list of considerations.

FOR MILWAUKEE NEWBIES

And since I got a special request, here's 10 (plus one) iconic recommendations for those who might be new to Milwaukee, in rough order of priority.



1. City Hall. Penny Marshall will be there, too.

2. Milwaukee Art Museum. It flaps at noon.

2. Frank Lloyd Wright's American System Built Homes.

3. The Allen-Bradley Clock Tower (once the largest four-sided clock in the world).

4. The US Bank Observation Tower. Our tallest. Plus, you can see everything from up there.

5. The Pabst Complex, once a mainstay of Brew City, now being transformed.

6. Milwaukee Public Market.

7. The Pabst Theater.

8. The Clock Shadow Building. Where Milwaukee is headed, we hope.

9. Milwaukee County Historical Society.

10. Jones Island. Because you don't want to make the mistake I did as a new Milwaukeean and have to ask: What is Milorganite anyway?

11. St. Joan of Arc Chapel at Marquette University.