Plankinton’s Palace: The Hall

1/15/26 25 Comments

Authored & Curated By

M.J.G.

hall (1880s) – period view
Several photographs of the interior survive. While not all are as clear and crisp as we might like for close photo study, they still offer a remarkable way to step into another world. Today, our focus here will be studying the front main hall. Three photographs survive of the grand hall, and over the course of this series each room will be explored in order of its location so we can understand where we are within the house and how the rooms connect. As always, if you have additional images or history related to this home, please share them in the comments section below so we can memorialize this great mansion’s history here.

Full disclosure: a few of the images have been gently sharpened and denoised for clearer zoom-in detail, but the primary photographs are presented as they were supplied to me by Marquette University. Special thanks to Katie Blank, University and Digital Records Archivist, for her help with permissions and documentation.

Approaching the house from the corner, this would have been our view before entering at the porte cochere. The home stands tall and dominant from this vantage point, and if you recall from the previous chapter, it underwent an extensive remodel in the 1880s while the family lived elsewhere.

Walking up to the front door beneath the grand porte cochere likely made you feel you were about to enter more than a home—a palace. By several accounts, the interior was described as among the most artistic and museum-like of its day.

The first photographic view of the hall is from the vantage point right after you enter through the front doors. The hallway features two hanging chandeliers and a large, heavy staircase at the back.

The floor plan of the central hall appears to be T-shaped, with the rear section widened to accommodate a large staircase that fills the space.

The portières on the left and right appear to match in pattern as they face the hallway. The tiebacks differ and appear to reflect the style of the adjoining rooms. The chairs are reflected in the shine of the woodwork, suggesting a rich French polish perhaps.

Take a closer look at highlighted portion at the end of the hall prior to entering the staircase portion. A subtle “false division” separates the front hall from the rear hall, created by a pair of shallow archways. Within this relatively small transitional space, the dado changes—a clear signal that you’ve crossed into a new section of the hall. On the right, a painting appears within a large, ornate framed archway; opposite it, the exact same framework is repeated, but filled instead by a long mirrored hat-and-coat rack with a low shelf and hooks. Above, the ceiling treatment shifts as well, introducing a band of round rosettes—different from the front hall, yet gently echoing the rosettes visible beneath the staircase. Beyond these archways, the hall widens, giving the staircase room to rise and take command of the space. Even in this single view, the composition feels deliberate and finely tuned, with symmetry, ornament, and circulation carefully balanced.

Looking up at the ceiling reveals a series of intriguing panels. In the front portion of the hall, the ceiling is divided into square compartments, but what fills each panel is difficult to read in the photograph. Is it pronounced wood grain, or some kind of reflective, non-directional pattern? It is difficult tell for sure even after sharpening the image.

Looking more toward the left side of the hall, you can see the built-in mirror, with several ornamental hooks extending from both the left and right. Straight ahead is a view of the large staircase and its carpet runner. The oversized painting is intentionally tilted forward for easier viewing from the picture rail on thin wires—a practice not often seen today.

Zooming in closer, you can see a calling card tray on the left edge of the low shelf. Here, you can also see that the wall-to-wall carpeting terminates at the base of the stairs, where a separate runner begins and continues up the curved lower steps.

Looking to the right side of the hall, we can see the corresponding archway with a painting of some sort set within it, along with another picture hanging from the rail with a much less extreme tilt. To the right, you can also see the matching floral portière pattern attached to rings on the pole.

Lower down, you can see the two hall chairs reflected in the highly polished paneled dado, which appears to match the style of the settee at the back of the hall. Farther to the right, the lower portion of the doorway portière shows a large, heavy, and complex pattern—a geometric design that almost suggests layered, mixed-material textures. If you turn to the right…

…we can see into the parlor, straight through to the bay-window nook, which is divided by drapes and lace curtains. We’ll step into the parlor in a later article, but for now, let’s explore the hallway a bit more and turn back left toward the stairs.

As you walk down toward the newel, the sun reflects brightly off the back wall, but you can still make out an archway that appears to lead into the service wing of the house. To the right of the arch, a sunburst motif emerges in the woodwork. Farther right sits an elaborate, old-fashioned settee—perhaps a holdover from the home’s earlier years. Let’s walk down that section of the hall.

When you reach the newel at the end of the hall and turn left, you get a clear view of the newel post and balustrade. Beyond the archways, the hallway opens into a broader, square hall, with doors leading off into other rooms.

In this view, we can see just how many gas jets this fixture carried. The ornamentation is exquisite and by no means simply executed. The central globe is set within an ornamental pressed-metal pattern that rises nearly halfway up.

A side view of the staircase shows its upward rise and the carved woodwork along the stringer. The steps are not steep, but seem to ascend gradually to the upper levels. The staircase is artistically executed. Behind it, you can see the wood dado with a sharp dividing point before it angles upward to follow the line of the stairs.

The Frieze
This is a textbook frieze pattern for the 1880s. It neatly divides the picture rail from the unusual wall-fill pattern below, and it could very well be stenciled.

The Wall Fill
The wall covering could be paper or another decorative surface such as Lincrusta or Anaglypta, though it appears too flat to be either. It may instead be stenciled. The result is a fascinating, non-directional design—an uncommon radiating fan pattern for this era.

Here is a cleaned-up version of the frieze and wall fill. It’s wonderful to see the pattern clearly and appreciate each detail that once graced these walls.

You can make out another room in the distance. We’ll see that room again in another article.

Looking to the left, in the corner, is a beautiful marble statue of a girl holding an umbrella, which stands out against the dark woodwork.

Online research led me to Pietro Barzanti (Italian, 1825–1895). The marble statue on the right is signed “P. Barzanti / Firenze, 1882” on the figure itself. That’s all I could find so far but if you recognize this piece, leave it down in the comments below.

Turning back toward the front door near the newel, you can see the entry doors we would have come through. With the gas lights off, the central hall is softly lit and muted. Even so, the space reads as richly decorated and heavily carved, designed to glow under an abundance of artificial light.

To the left and right along the walls, you can see three very large gas sconces—two open flames with a globed light in the center. All of the fixtures in the hall echo this design, combining a central globe with multiple open gas jets that mimic candle flames.

In the darkness, standing bright in the left corner, is an unidentified statue that catches the light.

The statue stands solidly on a beautiful two-toned marble pedestal—a high-quality, museum-like piece.

The ceiling is heavily paneled and decorated. Two gas chandeliers—matching in design to the wall sconces—hang in the hall: one in the front portion, and another in the foreground, centered between the two shallow arches.

Looking closer, you can make out that the front doors feature elaborate stained glass and heavy carving. Above them is a papered or stenciled surface treatment. You can also get a good view of how many gas jets extend from this fixture. While a single open flame produces only a modest amount of light, multiple jets burning together would have filled the room with a soft glow—especially as it reflected off the glossy woodwork and metallic finishes. So while the hall looks subdued here, it must have been beautifully illuminated when all of the jets were lit.

Here is a clear view of the heavily carved newel from the back side, and how the ornate, substantial railing is joined. In the distance, you can see the shelf of the built-in coat-and-hat stand with its mirror.

Up close, the base of the newel lamp reveals even more detail in this highly polished work of art. Layers of ornament and pattern cover the fixture, and it’s clear that a great deal of time and careful study went into its execution—just as it did for many of the other elements in this hall.

Throughout this hallway tour, it’s unclear what type of heating apparatus was originally used to warm the house during Milwaukee’s winters. However, the home did have radiators during the school years, and according to this letter from Baker, Smith & Co., Plankinton heated his home with their system.

Heating a home with steam or hot-water radiators was a more expensive and modern approach by the 1880s. Baker, Smith & Co. was one of many firms producing catalogs that promoted and sold these systems to residential and commercial customers. A common misconception persists that only steam heat was available in the 19th century. This is false—both steam and hot-water systems were used and widely offered.

This reference book from 1885 can be found here.

You’ve reached the end of this article discussing the hall today. The decorators of this hallway deserve a lot of credit for the time that went into every detail, big or small. They clearly put a great deal of thought and effort into designing an elaborate, complex space—one full of rich patterns and lighting that plays on the eye and continues to reveal new details. More chapters to come.

If you missed previous articles on this or other topics, please click here.

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