TICKETS HERE: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/design-for-living-the-brooks-and-alice-stevens-house-tickets-1854280576119?aff=oddtdtcreator
Join us on Tuesday, November 18, for the next installment of Docomomo Wisconsin’s From the Archives Lecture Series, presented in partnership with AIA Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Public Library, and the Wisconsin Architectural Archive.
Exhibition Opens: 4:30 PM
Lecture Begins: 5:00 PM
Event Description
Industrial designer Brooks Stevens was a visionary who helped define American modernism—bringing streamlined design to everything from home appliances to automobiles. His 1939 Fox Point residence, designed with architect Fitzhugh Scott Jr., stands as a rare and remarkable example of Streamline Moderne domestic architecture in Wisconsin.
This illustrated talk explores the Brooks and Alice Stevens House as both a personal statement and a prototype for living in the Machine Age. The lecture traces Stevens’s evolution from Milwaukee’s own design prodigy to a national figure who merged industrial innovation with modern living. Through archival drawings, photographs, and excellent insight by Lecturer Michael Bridgeman, the presentation situates the house within broader currents of 1930s modernism—where form, function, and personality aligned to create a home “as modern as tomorrow.”
Speakers:
Michael Bridgeman is a retired communications director for Wisconsin Public Television and a longtime advocate for historic preservation and the arts in Madison. A dedicated volunteer with the Madison Trust for Historic Preservation for nearly forty years, he has served on its board, led Historic Architecture Walking Tours for over fifteen years, and now contributes regular articles to the Trust’s website. In retirement, Bridgeman has hosted two PBS Wisconsin programs highlighting notable historic buildings across the state, researched National Register of Historic Places nominations, and volunteered with the State Historic Preservation Office. He and his partner live in a 1899 stone farmhouse in the town of Roxbury.
Collaborators:
Wisconsin Architectural Archives, Milwaukee Public Library, Docomomo Wisconsin, Wisconsin AIA
