The Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Last week I mentioned I would write up some thing about the Greek Orthodox Church designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The Church is a land mark and is located right next door to my grandmother’s retirement home. Wright was one of the world's most prominent and influential architects. He developed a series of highly individual styles over his extraordinarily long architectural career and influenced the entire course of American architecture and building. His most famous work was Fallingwater, also known as the Edgar J. Kaufmann Sr. Residence.

The Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin was designed by Wright in 1956, and completed in 1961. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Church is one of Wright's last works. In 1956 Wright showed the original drawings for the new suburban church to the Milwaukee congregation, one of the ten oldest in the country. He died in 1959 before the ground breaking and the dedication of the church in 1961. Wright's circular design represented a radical departure from traditional Byzantine church architecture, yet it retained the concept of a domed space and incorporated symbols and colors associated with the Greek Orthodox faith. The basic design of the church is based on the Greek cross inscribed with a circle. This characteristic motif is repeated in several decorative features which include the gold anodized aluminum icon screen, and the gates to the exterior sunken garden.

I hope some day to see the inside of the church, but it is only open to the public during Greek fest.

Friday, May 4th

On Friday after waking up, at 5:30 a.m. local time, we very much had hoped they would sleep in but David woke everyone up) we had breakfast with my grandmother and my Uncle Bud. We got to talk about the up coming wedding and how the boys were doing. I took the boys for a ride around the retirement home on their skateboards. Along the way I stop to go look at the Greek Orthodox Church right next door to the home. It was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. I will give more on that in a later posting. My Grandmother then took the boys to see the birds up on the 2nd floor of her retirement home. Rodney was in love He really like a little blue bird who was at the bottom of the cadge he couldn’t fly. Before lunch we took my grandmother to my Aunt Pats so she could be there as people arrived for the wedding. The boys spent time toughing their new spider-man frisbees from the upper deck of the my aunts condo, wile we worked out what to do about lunch and entertain the boys. We had a lot of time to kill until the rehearsal dinner that nigh.

After Bud and I took the boys to the park he dropped me off at Patties so he could go get his kids from the Airport and I could take Amy and the boys out for lunch and Custard. You just can’t go to Milwaukee and not get custard. After that we all went to the hotel were every one was staying for the wedding. This was to give the boys a chance to meet my Cousin Shannon’s kids and to go swimming. I got a chance to geek out with My Cousin James (he is the one who was getting married). We played Carcassonne and he won (only because I was a little sleepy fro the trip).

That night after feeding the boys and letting them play Star Wars with their Cousins, we went to the rehearsal and the dinner. On the way there David fell asleep from all the activity. At the Church the boys got to find out what their job was in the wedding and how important they were. They both were very good. My mother took the boys back to my Grandmother’s so they could go to sleep and Amy and I could go to the Dinner. Both boys fell asleep faster that any other time. The dinner was at a Mexican restaurant in honor of Sango de Mayo. Amy and I only stayed long enough for drinks and dinner. We were very tired.

Hmmmmmmmm Custard


Me and James Geeking out playing Carcassonne