Master of German styles endearing, enduring

Whitney Gould in her "Spaces" column in today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reviews The Architecture of Eugene Liebert: Teutonic Style in the American Midwest by H. Russell Zimmermann, described as "the well-known restoration consultant".

One of Liebert's works was the Germania Building (1896) pictured in the article. The Germania Building might have its charms, but preserving them when updating the utilities has probably been challenging. I once worked in a small law office that had been in the building a long time. My office window is the last one on the left on the seventh floor. Our suite still had direct current electrical service, and external conduit, presumably dating back to when the building was originally wired.

The law firm had its own anachronisitic aspects. When the regular "girl" went on vacation, her predecessor filled in. One day she looked out my office window and recalled seeing the dirigible Graf Zeppelin floating past City Hall.