Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum Celebrates 100 Years

Before it was the Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum, the elegant lakeside estate on the East Side was home to the Smiths. The prominent manufacturing family enlisted local architect David Adler to design the home, which was built in 1924.

“It’s a little bit of a folly to build an Italian villa on Lake Michigan. … And then Milwaukee fell in love with it,” says Jaymee Harvey Willms, executive director of the Villa Terrace and Charles Allis museums.

A current exhibition at Villa Terrace celebrates 100 years of the building’s history, with photographs along the main hallway and a gallery displaying personal items on loan from the Smith family. The nonprofit Friends of Villa Terrace will throw a centennial gala on July 13. 

Since the building’s donation to Milwaukee County in 1966, it has hosted local organizations like the Antiquarian Society of Wisconsin and the Milwaukee Garden Club. Now, new staff has made a push to give back to the community that’s kept Villa Terrace around. In what was once a children’s playroom, there is a gift shop selling local artwork.

It has partnered with Imagine MKE for artist networking events, and it launched an artist-in-residence program with a studio and gallery space for its current resident, Celeste Contreras Skierski. 

Villa Terrace has 100 events planned for its centennial year, ranging from Sunday morning concerts to cultural celebrations and workshops. On most Wednesday afternoons, the Villa becomes a coworking space.

The goal of this wide-ranging calendar is to open the doors to everyone, including those who might not have viewed the sophisticated-seeming space as a place for them. “While everyone has been welcome to the Villa, everyone is now invited to the Villa,” Harvey Willms says.