When the Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee was completed in 1893, the lobby ceiling’s curved skylight served as the centerpiece of the opulent space. But by the late 1930s, an added roof enclosure blocked it, and the skylight was eventually painted over.

To celebrate its 100th anniversary in 1993, the hotel commissioned Bernard O. Gruenke and his son Bernard E. Gruenke of Conrad Schmitt Studios to create a new ceiling mural. They painted a sky full of clouds and cherubs as a tribute to the original skylight.

In 2024, Conrad Schmitt Studios—still under Gruenke family ownership—returned to the Pfister lobby to restore the deteriorated 1993 mural. If you’re in town for the National Trust’s PastForward conference this fall, stop by the Pfister, which is a Historic Hotel of America, or participate in a field study visit to Conrad Schmitt Studios. Below, more on the mural and its refurbishment, by the numbers.

3: Number of Gruenke family descendants who had a hand in the ceiling mural’s 2024 restoration.

35: Approximate height, in feet, of the ceiling at its highest point.

1,105: Hours of work, including cleaning the surface, repairing failing plaster, and repainting where needed.

12: Number of cherubs depicted among the clouds in the Baroque-style mural.

3,500: Square footage of the lobby. The mural takes up a large portion of the ceiling.