Urban spelunking: Liberace’s West Milwaukee alma mater

The 1927 West Milwaukee Intermediate School, 5104 W. Greenfield Ave., with its cream-colored brick and gorgeous terra cotta detailing, is a local landmark – both officially and in the local psyche – for its Mediterranean-style allure and for the fact that it is Liberace’s alma mater.

The school building – part of the West Allis-West Milwaukee School District – was named a Milwaukee County Landmark in 1983, three years before the death of its most famous alum.

But the building, like many schoolhouses that are a century or more old, is also an example of the challenges of maintaining our landmarks.

The Village of West Milwaukee was founded in 1906 on land that had previously been part of the Towns of Wauwatosa and Greenfield.

Read full article here.

Urban spelunking: Liberace’s West Milwaukee alma mater