DOORS OPEN MKE 2013: SHRINE TRIPOLI CENTER

The Shrine Tripoli Center was completed in 1928 and is on the National Register of Historic Places.  I last visited it during the 2012 Doors Open Milwaukee weekend and decided to return during this year's event as well.

The center is a Shriners temple and was supposedly modeled after the Taj Mahal.  Here is an exterior shot that features the temple's characteristic onion-shaped dome.

Distinctive it is, but the Taj Mahal it is not.

The building's interior carries on the Eastern motif, including tile work and Byzantine(?) windows, such as the following.

I wanted to capture the lines of this window but felt the building visible through it was distracting, so I converted the shot into a black & white.  Not great, frankly.

The clear centerpiece of the building is the atrium under the central dome.  Here is a shot that I took from the second floor.

This shows the interesting lines leading from the walls to the ceiling dome.  The following shot shows more detail of those lines.

The earlier shot also reveals a large chandelier hanging from the center of the dome.  That chandelier poses challenges in terms of capturing the interior of the dome itself.  Shooting straight up from the floor below would not have worked.  I had to content myself with taking shots that excluded the chandelier, including the following.

Although I find myself taking symmetrical shots (and I am getting to be more careful in taking those), I did like this last shot above which discards the idea of symmetry.  However my favorite shot was a symmetrical one that captured about as much of the dome as I could without including the chandelier, although the chain by which the chandelier is suspended is visible.

I especially liked the series of windows that rings the dome's base.

And here is one last exterior shot I took from the building's front entrance, which features a couple of camels to complete the setting.  I think they were made from cast concrete.

John