Will Unique Downtown Mural Be Saved?

Edward Cathony’s TEGA mural at 803 W. Michigan St. Photo by Ben Tyjeski.

The ceramic tile mural, People Helping People, has been on display at the entrance to the building at 803 W. Michigan St. for over half a century. A new development known as the Iron District, featuring a hotel, apartments, and professional soccer stadium, calls for transforming the office building into a larger apartment complex. The future of the mural, however, is not certain.

What is likely to be disassembled and reinstalled is a 10’ x 20’ artwork designed by Chicago-based artist Edward Cathony. The Milwaukee Insurance Company commissioned the painter to design this mural in their outdoor lobby after they refurbished the building in 1969.

How the painter from Illinois was even considered for such a project was due to Huetta Manion, owner of Landmarks Gallery (1966-2020) at 231 N. 76th St. She was a pioneer in woman-owned art galleries and helped Cathony receive a number of commissions painting watercolor graphics of Milwaukee landmarks in 1969, including the War Memorial Center, City Hall, Marquette University, and many others.

The artwork Cathony created for the Milwaukee Insurance Co. was titled People Helping People, and for the company was a proud display of their philosophy. Three years after the mural was completed, the company’s director of marketing Wilbert Kedrow wrote in a letter to Cathony, “We believe your mural on the building … has continued to enhance us as an institution in the world of the arts and city beautification.”

Cathony executed his design using only TEGA tiles from the Allen-Bradley Co.

TEGA tiles were developed by an affiliated company in Canada in 1961. Allen-Bradley’s sales brochure described them as “hard, dense, vitreous, high-fired ceramic” tiles that were offered in a wide spectrum of colors and textures, suitable for indoor and outdoor applications in any climate. According to an undated/unnamed biography about Cathony, the tiles were “fired and cut in Canada under the supervision of Cathony.”

Unfortunately, Allen-Bradley’s manufacturing of TEGA tiles here did not last long since the UW System purchased the building in Milwaukee where they were manufactured in 1973. But Cathony’s design has lasted all these years, leaving the Milwaukee community a unique piece of Mid-Century art to appreciate and enjoy as they pass by it. Certainly, this is an important piece of art that Milwaukee does not want to see disappear.

Members of the Wisconsin chapter of Docomomo-WI, a Modernist architect and design preservation group, are working hard to see the mural, which will most likely be removed, finds a new home either as a part of the new Iron District development or somewhere else in the city.

Their preservation work has included the War Memorial Center, the State Office Building, and the Mitchell Park Domes, each having mosaic installations as well. This week, on June 20, the organization hosted an Allen-Bradley Mosaic Tour at Rockwell Automation. Member and architectural historian Shannon Winterhalter believes that “The Cathony mural seemed like a continuation of this thread and an important piece of Milwaukee history that maybe not a lot of people knew about.”

Winterhalter has been collaborating with architect Justin Racinowski and mosaic artist Lillian Sizemore, both members of Docomomo-WI, on gathering research and information on the Cathony mural to advocate for its preservation, as well as finding potential contractors to safely remove the mural.

Sizemore, based in Madison, is also an independent researcher and writer on Modernist mosaics, and says that the process of removing and relocating this type of mural, “can and has been done.” One project she helped spearhead was the relocation of the 1968 mosaic Brotherhood of Man by Anthony Stellon in San Francisco. The Cathony mural is one of many pictorial tile and mosaic murals completed in the 1960s and 70s, including works by artists Mary Blair and Millard Sheets, whose murals have been relocated.

Cutting out each tile one-by-one appears to be cumbersome and would increase the chances of damaging the tiles. “The most straightforward and cost effective approach would be cutting the entire work out of the wall, intact,” Sizemore suggests. “The artwork wall is cut out, lifted, and positioned into a custom metal frame to transport.”

John Padberg of Berglund Construction, one of several contractors Docomomo-WI has contacted, agrees that “It would be very difficult to remove the tiles individually without breaking them so we’d cut the pieces in sections with the travertine attached. The sections would be 4 tiles high by 6 tiles wide. We’d then crate the pieces for transport and storage.”

This, however, is just the removal. Ideas for storage and re-installation are out there, but have yet to be figured out.

S.R. Mills, CEO of Bear Development, which is working on the Iron District project, found the mural an “unexpected surprise” and is excited to inherit the Mid-Century artwork and find a way to preserve the mural. ”We’re in the process of working with our designers and architects to see if we can find an appropriate location to display the mural within the Iron District,” he said, “or if it’s best to relocate to an alternate location, be it one of our other developments in Milwaukee or a non-affiliated site.”

“We have no intentions of demolishing the mural,” he emphasized.

Construction for the Iron District is slated to begin this summer, so there is still time — though the clock is ticking — to visit the mural and experience the artwork as it was intended to be viewed.

On Sunday, May 21, Winterhalter and her partner/Docomomo-WI member Andrew Stern, along with Sizemore and myself, met with Cathony’s children: Janice Ulbert, John Cathony, and Ann Dufkis, and all their children and grandchildren at the mural. Understanding the plans to remove the artwork, three generations of Cathonys reunited to do one more viewing of the mural in its original place.

Cathony’s kids remember watching their dad work on this mural and taking the trip to Canada. They also have memories of coming up to Milwaukee and going to the Landmarks Gallery.

They have also shared artifacts with members of Docomomo-WI and myself to better piece together their father’s story for all Milwaukeeans and Cathony art collectors. Said Ann Dufkis:  “We’re doing this for Dad.”

Photos

This is the third in a series o stories on tile art works in Milwaukee by writer Ben Tyjeski is an art teacher who was named a 2023 Mildred L. Harpole Artist of the Year by the Milwaukee Arts Board. 

UPDATE: An earlier version of this article said the piece was created in 1969. It was created in 1970 following the building’s 1969 renovation.