The Hilton Milwaukee City Center opened in 1928 as the Schroeder Hotel, an Art Deco–style tower in the Westown neighborhood of downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This building began life as the Schroeder Hotel, developed and owned by Walter Schroeder and designed by the Chicago firm Holabird & Roche. From the street you can appreciate its simplified neo‑classical exterior; step inside in your imagination and you’ll find interiors rich with Art Deco — extensive hardwoods and intricate decorative metal detailing.
The tower rises 25 stories to 274 feet (84 meters), and an antenna added in 1953 stretched its total height to 677 feet (206 meters). The hotel’s life has chapters: Schroeder sold it in 1964 to Towne Realty; Sheraton took over management in April 1965, renaming it the Sheraton‑Schroeder Hotel, investing $2 million in renovations, and buying it outright in January 1967. In 1972 local businessman Ben Marcus bought and renovated the property, reopening it in 1973 as the Marc Plaza Hotel, and in 1995 the Marcus Corporation brought in Hilton Hotels to manage it.
Ben Marcus's Marcus Corporation still owns the tower today, along with the Pfister Hotel and the Saint Kate Hotel in Downtown Milwaukee.