A deteriorating portion of Milwaukee's historic Pabst Mansion will be dismantled, with parts of it preserved for an eventual reconstruction, under a plan approved Monday by city officials.

The Historic Preservation Commission's ruling affects the mansion's pavilion, which was added in 1895 − three years after beer baron Frederick Pabst completed his home on Milwaukee's near west side.

Pabst Mansion Inc., the nonprofit which operates the mansion as a historic attraction, plans to preserve the pavilion's salvageable elements to help with rebuilding it as a freestanding porch − its earlier use.

The commission's approval was needed because the mansion, 2000 W. Wisconsin Ave., is designated by the city as a historic site.

The deconstruction is necessary because the pavilion's condition is too far gone, said Tim Askin, a city historic preservation planner.

"It needs to come down to be rebuilt," said Askin, who called it "a rather unfortunate situation."

"The damage is kind of endless," he told commission members.

Pavilion has been closed due to safety concerns

The pavilion, which once housed the mansion’s gift shop and main entrance, has been closed to the public since summer 2022 due to safety concerns.

The mansion, which draws 40,000 people annually, shifted its visitors center to space it leases on the ground floor of The Marq, a neighboring student apartment building at 2040 W. Wisconsin Ave.

The organization plans to carefully deconstruct the pavilion's salvageable elements for scanning, documentation and preservation until it can be rebuilt.

Pabst Mansion Inc. is working with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Historic Preservation Institute to create a 3D scan of the pavilion, using laser scanning tools and recording techniques. That scan will make it possible to use 3D printing technology to recast missing and deteriorated pieces.

Museum officials believe roughly 25% of the original structure remains viable. The reconstructed pavilion will include a proper back-up structure, movement joints, weather proofing and insulation.

Structure built for interior use, fell into disrepair

It was built as a temporary interior structure, the Pabst Brewing Co. pavilion, for the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago.

After the exposition ended, Frederick Pabst added the pavilion to the Pabst Mansion's east end as an open porch.

It was later enclosed before being converted to a chapel in 1908 after the mansion was sold by the Pabst family to the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. It was used as the archbishop's residence until 1975, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society.

The pavilion was not constructed with appropriate materials or details, such as flashing and insulation, because it wasn't designed to be a permanent exterior structure. It gradually fell into disrepair despite several stabilization efforts since the early 1980s.

Pabst Mansion Inc. plans to return to the commission this summer to seek approval for plans to make repairs to the main structure's exterior, said Mame McCully, the group's board chair.

Frederick Pabst built Pabst Brewing Co. into the nation's largest brewer by 1874. He died in 1904.

Pabst Brewing, now based in San Antonio, Texas, shut down its Milwaukee brewery in 1996. That complex on downtown's west side has since been converted into The Brewery, a mixed-use development that includes hotels, apartments, offices, restaurants and craft breweries.

Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@jrn.com and followed on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Pabst Mansion pavilion to be dismantled. It may be rebuilt as a porch.