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Doors Open Milwaukee is organized by Historic Milwaukee, Inc., a non-profit whose mission is dedicated to increasing awareness of Milwaukee’s history and architecture through educational programming.
The fourth weekend of every September 100+ buildings open their doors for Doors Open Milwaukee, a city-wide celebration of history, architecture, and neighborhoods. The event attracts tens of thousands of visitors each year. Since the event began in 2011, demand from buildings to participate has increased rapidly and Historic Milwaukee is excited to work with the community to showcase their buildings to residents and visitors.
If you’d like your building to be part of Doors Open Milwaukee, please review the building criteria outlined below and submit a Building Consideration Form by March 31, 2023.
If you’d like your building to be part of Doors Open Milwaukee, please review the building criteria outlined below and submit a Building Consideration Form by March 31, 2023.
Preference will be given to buildings that meet the following criteria:
- Buildings that are not usually open to the public or have areas not usually open to the public, but have some significant architectural features and/or have historical, social, as well as cultural significance.
- Buildings that are open to the public, but have some significant architectural features and/or have historical, social, as well as cultural significance to the city. (ex: churches, art galleries, theaters)
- Buildings that can commit to opening their doors for TWO full days, 10 am to 5 pm
- Buildings that are celebrating significant anniversaries
- Buildings with significant original interior features and/or successful adaptive reuse features
- Buildings in the City of Milwaukee or clustered with other locations
- Buildings representing the cultural diversity of Milwaukee
Doors Open Milwaukee receives many proposals; however, there are a set number of buildings that can be added to the roster each year. Several steps and deadlines must be met to ensure your building will be considered.
- Your building must meet the participation criteria listed above.
- Your building must submit an online application. The 2023 deadline is March 31. This step is required only if your building is considered a NEW building. A building is new if it has not participated for the past five years.
- Decisions are made by June of the event year. If your building is selected to participate, the primary contact will receive a link directing them to the Doors Open Milwaukee Participant Agreement Form via email.
Building Guidelines
- Doors Open hours are 10 am to 5 pm on the fourth weekend of September. However, times are accommodated to specific location availability. Buildings are required to remain open for the duration of their listed hours, regardless of attendance.
- No admission may be charged.
- A building representative must be on premises during open hours. A cell phone contact number for this person must also be provided. That person will be responsible for opening and closing the building and have the authority to make decisions.
- If you have an informational brochure about your building or business, please feel free to hand these out to visitors on event days.
- Provide a volunteer to help keep count of visitors and share that attendance info with Historic Milwaukee. We have a limited number of volunteers for about 1/2 of the program.
Banners and signage
You will be asked to affix our 4’ x 5’ Doors Open banner (usually on the building) near your selected entrance alerting tour goers of your participation. Many buildings hang the banner in advance of the event, which helps build greater public awareness of its participation. Please provide adequate signage to help guide visitors to where they should enter your building. Banner needs to be returned to Historic Milwaukee after the event. Either give the banner to the building captain or bring it to 235 E Michigan St. We try to reuse banners each year. Pick out your favorite neighborhood poster once you return the banner!
Volunteers
Building Captain: A Building Captain – regional manager – will be assigned a group of 8-12 participating sites including your building. The Building Captain will drop off and pick up materials to your site and provide Doors Open related support. Materials may be dropped off the week prior to Doors Open or before the event each day. Expect to hear from the Building Captain in early September to coordinate drop off. Materials your building captain will drop off:
- Printed event guides
- Papers surveys
- Volunteer badges
- Passports and stamps for participating sites
- Donation bin for Doors Open
- Clicker and form for tracking attendance
Historic Milwaukee Volunteer: If Historic Milwaukee is providing a volunteer to your site, they will arrive 30 minutes before your site opens to the public. Make sure they have access to the entrance you’ve designated. A Building Captain may arrive prior to this time with event supplies. If you see our material stacked outside your door, please bring it in. Please provide a small table and chair inside the building entrance for volunteer. Volunteer no-shows: Please let your Building Captain know if a volunteer does not show up for their shift. Doors Open will do our best to cover this shift, we also appreciate your flexibility and help in these situations.
Site Volunteer: If your site offered to provide a volunteer, they will be expected to:
- Greet visitors
- Count visitors using the clicker provided in the materials delivered to the building
- Submit total count on the sheet provided to the building captain at the end of each day
- Answer questions about Doors Open and your site to the best of their ability
- Reach out to building captain if additional materials are needed
- Stamp passports if located at a passport site. This year there are Water Passport and Family Passport sites.
- Site volunteers are welcome to pick up a volunteer badge from our office before or during the event. The badge allows volunteers to go to the front of the line at busy sites.
FAQs
Must my building present a guided tour or program?
No. As a site, you are welcome to offer guided or self-guided tours. The site can also restrict access to areas in their building they do not wish the public to visit. We encourage guided tours to last no longer than 15-25 minutes.
Who will be my primary contact person during the event?
Your assigned Building Captain will be your first contact point throughout the weekend. Our HMI office (414-277-7795) will also be staffed on event days if the captain cannot be reached. We will give you the captain’s cell phone number leading up to the event weekend.
How many visitors should a site expect?
Attendance depends on the location and program offered during the event.
How will the event be publicized?
The event is promoted via paid and free media and a social media campaign. Owners and organizations can also be helpful in publicizing the event through their own networks via email and social media.
Historic Milwaukee is proud to share our decades of architecture and history expertise with a growing audience of curious Milwaukeeans and visitors through Doors Open. Doors Open was brought to Milwaukee by Historic Milwaukee tour guide and local librarian, George Wagner. Doors Open is part of the international Open House concept and aligns with the mission of the Open House Worldwide movement to showcase outstanding architecture for all to experience. These initiatives invite everyone to explore and understand the value of a well-designed built environment. .
Doors Open Milwaukee’s goals:
- Showcase the architecture and community stories of Milwaukee’s downtown and culturally diverse neighborhoods
- Raise awareness of the critical role design plays in a vibrant and livable city
- Welcome exploration and improve the perception of new neighborhoods
- Foster pride in Milwaukee and the built environment
