Milwaukee Art Museum Receives $10 M. Gift to Preserve Santiago Calatrava–Designed Building

Members of the Quadracci family have pledged $10 million to establish the Quadracci Pavilion Preservation Endowment Fund, which will support the long-term care and maintenance of one of the museum’s buildings.

Named after donors Betty and Harry Quadracci, who provided $10 million in the 1990s to build it, the Quadracci Pavilion opened in 2001 and is the first building in the United States by Spanish Swiss architect Santiago Calatrava. Housing an exhibition space, reception hall, auditorium, and more, the pavilion is known for its sweeping “wings,” called the Burke Brise Soleil, which look out onto Lake Michigan and are a prominent feature of the city’s skyline.

“Rather than just add something to the existing buildings, I also wanted to add something to the lakefront. I have therefore worked to infuse the building with a certain sensitivity to the culture of the lake–the boats, the sails, and the always-changing landscape,” Calatrava said during the building’s dedication ceremony in 2001.

The donors include the four children of Betty and Harry Quadracci: Joel Quadracci, who is the chairman and CEO of the family company Quad; Kathryn Quadracci, chief executive of QuadMed and president of the Windhover Foundation, the family foundation; Elizabeth Quadracci Harned, president of the Winderful Foundation, which she established in 2023; and H. Richard Quadracci, who passed away this past summer.

In a statement, Joel Quadracci, who is also a trustee of the Milwaukee Art Museum, said, “Our parents believed Milwaukee deserved a building that would make people stop and look up, and the Pavilion has done that every day for 25 years. Building it was the first step. Caring for it is the commitment that makes it last. We want it to be as extraordinary for the next generation, and for every family in this city who thinks of it as theirs, as it was the day it opened.”

The release announcing the gift stated that the newly established endowment fund will “provide annual income to support the long-term care of the Pavilion’s defining architectural features.” It does not seem that there are any immediate structural issues for the building, but that the fund is being established as part of the museum’s yearlong celebration of the opening of the pavilion, which began in August.

“Some buildings change a skyline. Others change the way a city sees itself. The Quadracci Pavilion has done both. It represents the boldness, imagination, and determination that define Milwaukee at its best,” Kathryn Quadracci said in a statement. “This commitment reflects our belief that preserving what makes Milwaukee exceptional is just as important as imagining what comes next.”

The gift is the first major donation secured by director Kim Sajet, the former director of the National Portrait Gallery who joined the Milwaukee Art Museum just over a year ago. “When the Quadracci Pavilion opened, it expressed a belief in what art could make possible for Milwaukee,” Sajet said in a statement. “The Quadracci family’s generosity carries that spirit of civic leadership forward, helping ensure this extraordinary building continues to welcome and inspire generations to come.”