House Styles Throught the Ages

Explore Milwaukee's History Through its Many Home Styles is a fascinating interactive map which visualizes how  the architectural styles of Milwaukee's residential properties have changed through its history. The map reveals how architectural tastes have developed over time and how these changes have helped define modern day Milwaukee.

In the late 19th Century into the beginning of the 20th Century scores of duplex apartments were built in the city.These duplex apartments helped contribute to Milwaukee becoming, by 1920, the second most densely populated city in the U.S.. During the 20th Century Milwaukee saw trends for building many different types of residential properties, including bungalows, ranch homes, and high-rise condominiums. 

On the Milwaukee Home Styles interactive map individual properties are colored to show their architectural style. This visualization on its own reveals a lot about the architectural styles of residential homes which dominate in each part of the city. Of course these geographical patterns largely exist because of how the city developed over time. 

These historical trends are revealed on the map using a date slider. Using this slide control it is possible to filter the map to show only homes built during a particular decade. A bar chart also shows you how many homes of each type of architectural style were built in each decade. A story map guide also provides an informative overview of the historical developments in Milwaukee's architectural styles and some of the factors which helped drive these changes in the style of homes being built in the city.