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Ben Tyjeski

Tile Town

Milwaukee Needs a Grand Fountain

Chicago's Crown Fountain provides an example. Milwaukee's historic tiled fountains provide inspiration.

By Ben Tyjeski - Jul 19th, 2026 01:56 pm

Chicago's Crown Fountain provides an example. Milwaukee's historic tiled fountains provide inspiration. Back to the full article.

Photos - Page 2

A fish pond with tiles from the Flint Faience Tile Co. and a Batchelder spout located in a home designed by architect George Zagel in 1924.

This Batchelder fountain mixed with Continental Flandria tile has a twin fountain in another home, both built in 1928/29.

Waiting for new ownership, the abandoned Emanuel Philipp School has a rare fish pond with tiles from the Continental Faience & Tile Co. and installed in 1932. This fountain was one of two that the architects Eschweiler & Eschweiler designed for school buildings, the other non-extant at Lake Bluff Elementary in Shorewood.

Now home to the Universal Scholars Academy, another Batchelder fountain design number 545 was installed at the historic Ritter Funeral Home in 1931, featured in a previous Tile Town article.

Categories: Tile Town

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