Frances Folsom

Pfister Hotel Antiques and Fine Art

by Frances Folsom, Antiques and Fine Art Magazine

Since opening its doors in 1893 the Pfister Hotel has been the place to see and be seen in Milwaukee. Built by businessman and philanthropist Charles Pfister, the son of a German immigrant, Pfister thought of the hotel as his gift to the city of Milwaukee and spared no expense on its construction. Renowned architect H. J. Esser was hired to design the hotel in the elegant Romanesque Revival style, and it was one of the first hotels in America to have electricity. Each of the two hundred rooms even had its own thermostat to control heat––unheard of in 1893.

The Pfister Hotel became known world wide for its gracious service and attention to detail. Every president since McKinley has stayed there. Opera great Toscanini and stage actresses of the day Sarah Bernhardt and Lillian Russell took tea in the lounge and could be seen strolling the upstairs hallways admiring the magnificent art collection.

Pfister, who had a keen eye for art, worked with agents and galleries in Milwaukee to amass the largest collection of Victorian art in any hotel in the world. On display are works by American artists such as Louis Mayer, Daniel Ridgeway Knight, Richard LaBarre Goodwin, Alexander Pope, and Thomas C. Lindsay, as well as European artists such as Adolphe Schreyer, Cesare Auguste Detti, Adolphe Alexander Lesrel, and Leon Francois Comerre.

The art is not tucked away in guestrooms, but hangs in the lobby, the mezzanine, the hallways, the lounge, and even in the café. There are no nameplates or descriptive notes next to the works (one can purchase a book about the collection in the hotel’s gift shop) because Pfister wanted to replicate for his guests the experience of viewing the art in someone’s home and not in a museum.

Behind the front desk are the massive The Wallachian-Post Carrier and Arabian Steeds by the German painter Adolphe Schreyer (1828–1899). Next to them is L’Eternelle Pomme D’Eve, Georges Achille-Fould’s (1865–1951) depiction, in gorgeous light tones of pinks, yellows, and greens, of two female friends serenely peeling apples.

Just inside the front door are two small portraits by Wisconsin-born Louis Mayer (1869–1969), one of the most influential artists in the community and a prime mover in the founding of the Society of Milwaukee Artists in 1900. Sappho, Mayer’s rendition of the Greek poetess, is set in one of the few existing frames designed by architect Stanford White. Next to it is his The Nude Figure, painted in somber colors with light playing off the model’s back and shoulders.

Along the massive oak stairway is Breakfast by Leon Francois Comerre (1850– 1916), depicting a young woman dressed in French period clothing holding a silver coffee pot in one hand and a tray with a croissant and a cup and saucer in the other. Comerre was born in Trélon, France. He exhibited works in the Paris Salons of 1874 and 1875 and also exhibited at the Royal Academy, the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, and the Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts. Appearing on the hotel menus, Breakfast has become the hotel’s signature work.

According to Peter Mortensen, the longtime chief concierge at the Pfister, “For many years after the hotel opened, a perfect day in Milwaukee society was a visit to the Milwaukee Art Museum followed by lunch at the Pfister and viewing the hotel’s art. Back then and nowadays, spending a night at the Pfister is…[like]…sleeping in Marie Antoinette’s palace at Versailles.”

Article and images used with the permission of Antiques and Fine Art magazine.