MILWAUKEE – The Wisconsin Historical Society announces the re-listing of the Pabst Mansion in the National Register of Historic Places at the national level of significance on April 23, 2025. The building was originally constructed from 1890-1892 in Milwaukee, Milwaukee County. It was originally listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
The Captain Frederick and Maria Pabst House was originally listed on the National Register of Historic Places at the state level for its significance in architecture and association with Frederick Pabst, who was instrumental in the 1870s to establish the Pabst Brewery as the largest lager brewery in the United States and as the largest brewery in the world by 1892. The nomination was updated to raise the historical significance of the house for its association with a significant person, Captain Pabst, to the national level.
Frederick Pabst (1836-1904) was born Johann Gottlieb Frederick Pabst in Nicholausrieth,
Thuringia, Saxony, in what is now Germany. His parents were farmers that immigrated to the United States in 1848. He became Captain Pabst at the age of 23, after working his way up the ranks on Great Lakes steamers. He met his future wife, Maria Best, on the steamship Comet. She was the eldest daughter of Phillip Best (1814-1869), owner of the Phillip Best Brewing Company in Milwaukee, and they married in 1962. He ended his sailing career in 1864, when Pabst’s father-in-law reduced his involvement in the company, which produced around 5,000 barrels in 1864. Pabst became president of the company in 1866.
By 1868, the company was the largest brewery in Milwaukee, and by 1874, the largest brewery in the nation. By 1888, it was distributing internationally. The name was changed to the Pabst Brewing Company, incorporating the “B” used by Best in the logo. In 1889, the company passed Anheuser-Busch as the largest brewery in the country. The 1890s were known as the Pabst Decade, and the company was the largest real estate holder in the city. In 1892, it was the first brewery in the United States to manufacture over one million barrels of beer in a year and became the largest lager brewery in the world. Pabst won the concession for beer at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Pabst was arguably Milwaukee’s most prominent citizen of the period, whose accomplishments demonstrated Milwaukee’s success and who made significant contributions to the community’s economic growth and cultural development.
The new nomination also details the highly decorative 20,000 square foot residence. It is a three-story, masonry building finished with pressed brick in Flemish bond pattern, embellished with elaborate terra cotta ornament, and set on a basement of coursed, smooth-faced, limestone ashlar. The Pabst House exemplifies the German Renaissance Revival, featuring steeply-pitched gables and gabled wall dormers with Flemish-style stepped parapets. Flemish-style, S-shaped pantiles cover the steep sides of the mansard roof of the main block and multiple gable roofs. The residence was designed by the distinguished local architectural firm of George Bowman Ferry and Alfred Charles Clas. Construction began in 1890 and was completed in 1892, when the Pabst Brewery was heralded as the largest brewery around the world. In 1908, the Pabst family sold the property to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee after Frederick and Maria passed away. The house served as the residence of the archbishop until 1974. In 1978, non-profit Wisconsin Heritages, Inc., renamed Pabst Mansion, Inc., acquired the house. They have operated the house museum since 1978 and have conducted restoration and stabilization projects over the years.
Additional information for the Pabst Mansion is available at: https://wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Property/HI30265
To learn more about the State and National Register programs in Wisconsin, visit: https://wisconsinhistory.org/hp/register/
About the Wisconsin Historical Society
The Wisconsin Historical Society, founded in 1846, ranks as one of the largest, most active and most diversified state historical societies in the nation. As both a state agency and a private membership organization, its mission is to help people connect to the past by collecting, preserving and sharing stories. The Wisconsin Historical Society serves millions of people every year through a wide range of sites, programs and services. For more information, visit wisconsinhistory.org.
