The futures of Milwaukee's Charles Allis Art Museum, Villa Terrace called into question

The fates of two taxpayer-owned cultural institutions on Milwaukee's east side — the Charles Allis Art Museum and Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum — are coming into question as their fiscal burden on Milwaukee County grows.

County Board supervisors on Tuesday will discuss a report sought by members Shawn Rolland and Steve Taylor in the 2024 budget cycle to review the existing agreement between the county and Charles Allis and also exploring the future of Villa Terrace.

The report now leaves supervisors on the Committee on Parks and Culture a handful of options to choose from: sell the properties, enter into a new agreement to continue support, transfer ownership to the nonprofit that runs the museums, or start a request for information report that would solicit ideas on how to move forward with community input involved.

Built in the early 1900s, the county has owned Charles Allis and Villa Terrace since 1979 and 1966, respectively. The two sites are staffed and operated by the nonprofit Charles Allis Villa Terrace, Inc. since 2012. The county is responsible for maintaining the buildings.

In 2022, the total operating budget for the two museums was $822,450, according to the report. Between 2007 and 2024, the county has allocated $2.04 million to capital needs.

The Charles Allis Museum, located at 1801 N. Prospect Ave., was built for and the home of Charles Allis, the first president of the Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company, and his wife, Sarah E.B. Allis. The museum's collection, compiled by the couple during their expansive travels across the world, consists of 800 objects, including porcelains, ceramics, antiquities and paintings dating back centuries. The county took over ownership from the City of Milwaukee in 1979.

A few blocks north at 2220 N Terrace Ave. is Villa Terrace, which was the home of Lloyd and Agnes Smith, who were inspired to build an Italian Renaissance-style residence in 1923. Lloyd Smith was president of Milwaukee's A.O. Smith Corp. Agnes Smith gifted the home to Milwaukee County in 1966. The site holds a more than 800-piece art collection, which includes the world's largest collection of work by Austria-born metalsmith Cyril Colnik.

Both properties are designated as City of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County landmarks and are also on the National Register of Historic Places.

A 2022 Wisconsin Policy Forum report posed the question of whether the county should continue to own the museums and also provide annual funding. Last year, the county reported roughly $1 billion of deferred infrastructure needs across a number of departments.

While a state law bolstering local government finances known as Act 12 and an increase in the county sales tax changed the county's fiscal trajectory, budget deficits still loom in future years. The county's July five-year fiscal forecast projected a surplus of $31.6 million for 2024, which would drop to $2.68 million in 2025, and then between 2026 and 2028 would switch to an estimated structural deficit of $36.2 million in 2028.

Rolland said he's hopeful a sustainable path forward will come out of the report for information process, where county and community involvement could brainstorm a way to save Charles Allis and Villa Terrace without straining county resources and funding.

"I think that community amenities should not die on the vine, because we are too afraid to say that Milwaukee County is too cash-strapped to pay for everything ... There is a real conversation about the viability of these amenities and that many of the supervisors are looking for a viable idea to save them — that also saves Milwaukee County," Rolland said. "So, I'm hopeful that goodhearted community people will rise up — maybe folks from philanthropy will rise up — and find a way to do that."

"But the clock is ticking," he added, calling the situation with the future of the Mitchell Park Domes a "perfect parallel."

The drawn-out debate about what to do with the Domes has divided the board, with the possibility of the iconic landmark getting demolished in part or entirely, undergoing major repairs to address deferred maintenance, being rebuilt from scratch or being replaced by a new conservatory facility. A decision has yet to be made.

Supervisor Sheldon A. Wasserman, whose district encompasses the east side museum properties, said he was still studying the issue.

"There are a lot of moving parts on this and the issue of equity is critical," he said. "I do support the Charles Allis and the Villa Terrace, but at the same time, what's it going cost us? ... We're looking for financial independence for all these different cultural institutions."

County Board Chairwoman Marcelia Nicholson did not respond to a request for comment.

Taylor, the amendment co-author, is hoping for a decisive decision to avoid a similarly long process like the Domes.

"The county just doesn't have the money. The county does not have the resources to continue to prop up some of these ventures right," he said. "Personally, if it was up to me, I'd sell them. I would get out of these two ventures."

Taylor added: "We have to determine what's the priority and, to me, these are at the bottom compared to our parks, compared to some of our roads and bridges."

The county's parks and culture committee will meet Tuesday to discuss the report's findings and could vote on which option to move forward with.

Contact Vanessa Swales at 414-308-5881 or vswales@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @Vanessa_Swales.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Could Milwaukee County sell Charles Allis Art Museum, Villa Terrace?