The new Riverside marquee rendering and previous signage
Did you know that a portion of each ticket to The Pabst Theater, Riverside Theater and Turner Hall Ballroom goes towards preservation efforts of the historic venues?
The Historic Preservation Fee helped fund a number of renovation efforts over the past year, including a new marquee and 40 foot vertical which will anchor the historic Riverside Theater prominently on the West Wisconsin Ave. landscape. The new vertical will be reminiscement of a previous sign for the venue, and designed by local firm Poblocki.
Purchased by Milwaukee real estate company Zilber Ltd. in 1962, the theater was saved and gutted in 1984 with a massive renovation. Another major overhaul began with the management of the Pabst Theater Group in 2005. The past year saw new theater doors, repairs in the decorative plaster, stage floor reconstruction, carpet replacement and more. 2016 restorations include replacing balcony theater seats and completing the carpet replacement work.
“The Riverside Theater has a storied history and a bright future,” Mayor Tom Barrett said. “The new marquee and large vertical sign, harking back to what West Wisconsin once looked like, bring the energy and activity that’s been happening inside the theater for the past decade out to the streets of downtown Milwaukee.”
For more information on the renovations, visit: www.pabsttheater.org/pages/history
