Winter 2025
600 W Walnut St. 

The Central City Plaza preservation effort mobilized Milwaukee’s preservation community to protect a landmark designed in 1973 by Alonzo Robinson Jr., Wisconsin’s first registered Black architect. As the state’s first Black-owned, Black-operated, and Black-designed shopping center, the plaza holds deep cultural and historical significance. When demolition was proposed in early 2025, Docomomo US/Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Preservation Alliance, Robinson’s son Kim Robinson, and other advocates organized quickly. Through community gatherings, media outreach, public testimony, and designation efforts, they reframed the site as a vital piece of cultural memory rather than a routine redevelopment opportunity. The City Council moved to designate the plaza, and the Salvation Army committed to pausing demolition to explore adaptive reuse. Ongoing efforts focus on interpretation and public engagement to share Robinson’s legacy and ensure this important midcentury site remains visible, accessible, and meaningful to Milwaukee’s communities.
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Advocacy Team: Kim Robinson, son of architect Alonzo Robinson Jr., Board of Directors, Docomomo US/Wisconsin; Seth Ter Haar, Docomomo US/Wisconsin Fellow; Emma Rudd, Executive Director, Milwaukee Preservation Alliance (MPA); Joselia Mendiola, President, MPA; Tim Askin, City of Milwaukee Historic Preservation Commission, Board of Directors, Docomomo US/Wisconsin; Clayborn Benson, Wisconsin Black Historical Society; Justin Miller, Architectural Historian, UWM Cultural Resource Management Center, Board Member, Docomomo US/Chicago; Eric Vogel, President, Docomomo US/Wisconsin; Chris Rute, Board of Directors, MPA; Sharon and Debra Skinner, Nieces of Felmer Chaney

With Special Thanks To: Docomomo US/Wisconsin Board of Directors, Milwaukee Preservation Alliance Board of Directors, The Bronzeville Advisory Committee

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Press: 

Docomomo US (Modernism in America Awards 2025) 
Urban Milwaukee