IN 65 PHOTOS: The historic Pabst brewery in downtown Milwaukee

Pabst Brewing Company's historic former flagship brewery complex in downtown Milwaukee, centered around North 10th Street and West Juneau Avenue and encompassed 28 buildings spanning seven city blocks - 21 acres - at its height.

Founded in Milwaukee in 1844 by immigrant brewer Jacob Best of Darmstadt in Germany's Rheinhessen region as Jacob Best Brewing Co., the brewery gained fame locally with its popular "Best Select" lager beer.

Passing the brewery to son Phillip Best as the renamed Ph. Best & Co., the brewery took on its well-known enduring Pabst Brewing Co. name after Great Lakes steamship Captain Frederick Pabst married Phillip Best's daughter Maria and joined the family brewing business, changing its name to Pabst in 1889 and growing it into the nation's largest brewer. In 1893, after winning numerous gold medals, Pabst Select beer was renamed Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer.

Surviving Prohibition with the production of near beer, soft drinks and Pabst-ett pasteurized processed cheeses, Pabst Brewing Co. enjoyed decades of success and growth, brewing 17 million barrels of beer at its height in 1977 as the nation's third-largest brewer and operating a coast-to-coast network of breweries in Milwaukee, Peoria Heights, Ill., Los Angeles, Newark, N.J. and Pabst (Perry), Ga. Sales thereafter declined, with a 1985 sale to a California investor who significantly disinvested in the company to the point of the closure of Pabst's flagship Milwaukee brewery in 1996, when Pabst ended brewing operations and pivoted to contract brewing.

Current owner Eugene Kashper, marketing Pabst globally, has built Pabst into the largest American-owned brewer. As a holding company, Pabst today contracts the brewing of over two dozen legacy beer and malt liquor brands including flagship Pabst Blue Ribbon and other beers with Wisconsin ties, including Heileman's Old Style, Blatz and Schlitz.

Pabst's idled flagship Milwaukee brewery, vacant for more than a decade, has since been redeveloped by the now-late Joseph J. Zilber as The Brewery District, a vibrant, mixed-use and sustainable residential and commercial neighborhood development of new construction and repurposed historic Pabst brewery buildings housing university facilities, offices, apartments, hotels, restaurants, taverns, event spaces, retail, and two microbreweries.

Best Place at the Historic Pabst Brewery, 917 W. Juneau Ave. in downtown Milwaukee, conducts hour-long tours of Pabst Brewing Company's historic former flagship Milwaukee brewery year-round. Tickets are $12 and include a pint of beer or soda. The tours are ADA-complaint and wheelchair accessible. For more information, call 414-223-4709 or visit bestplacemilwaukee.com/tours.

The historic former Pabst Brewing Co. Bottle House, 1125 N. 9th St. in downtown Milwaukee, has been reedeveloped as ELEVEN25 at Pabst, a mixed-use development including student apartments, offices, retail and The Restaurants at Eleven25. Located in the heart of Pabst's 21-acre brewery complex, the expansive block wide and nearly block long Bottle House was where beers including flagship Pabst Blue Ribbon, European-styled super-premium Andeker, Pabst Light and Pabst Extra Light, and economy brew Red, White and Blue were canned and bottled.

Encompassing a 21-acre site spanning seven city blocks, Pabst Brewing Company's former flagship brewery in downtown Milwaukee (1844-1996) has been redeveloped into The Brewery District, a mixed use development development of residential and commercial development including retail, offices, restaurants, boutique hotels and two microbreweries. Among the preserved architectural and design elements in The Brewery District is the signature neon Pabst sign over Juneau Avenue at North 10th Street, installed in the 1950s on a steel-frame pedestrian bridge linking two historic circa-1882 Cream City brick Pabst brewery buildings - the Malt House (left) and the National Register-listed Brew House (right).

The grand curving staircase is among the decorative architectural elements preserved in the National Register-listed circa-1882 former Pabst Brewing Co. Brew House, 1215 N. 10th St., Milwaukee. The historic Cream City brick Brew House has been redeveloped into a premier boutique hotel, Brewhouse Inn & Suites, which pays tribute to the building's rich brewing heritage with a variety of preserved historical elements, including copper brewing kettles and a dramatic soaring stained glass window featuring King Gambinus, the legendary patron of beer and brewers.

Located in the National Register-listed circa-1882 Pabst Brewing Co. Brew House at 1215 N. 10th St. in downtown Milwaukee, the dramatic lobby at boutique hotel Brewhouse Inn & Suites features decorative Brew House elements including a unique inside view of one of the former second floor copper brew kettles (top).

The National Register-listed Cream City brick circa-1882 former Pabst Brewing Co. Brew House, 1215 N. 10th St., Milwaukee, has been redeveloped into a premier boutique hotel, Brewhouse Inn & Suites, which pays tribute to the building's rich brewing heritage with a variety of preserved historical elements, including copper brewing kettles and a dramatic soaring stained glass window featuring King Gambinus, the legendary patron of beer and brewers.

The National Register-listed circa-1882 former Pabst Brewing Co. Brew House, 1215 N. 10th St., Milwaukee, has been redeveloped into a premier boutique hotel, Brewhouse Inn & Suites, which pays tribute to the building's rich brewing heritage with a variety of preserved historical elements, including copper brewing kettles and a dramatic soaring stained glass window featuring King Gambinus, the legendary patron of beer and brewers.

Commissioned by brewery namesake Capt. Frederick Pabst in the 1890s to inspire his employees, this dramatic and colorful 2-story stained glass window of King Gambrinus, the legendary patron of beer and brewing, is among the preserved historical architectural elements inside the National Register-listed circa-1882 former Pabst Brewing Co. Brew House, 1215 N. 10th St., Milwaukee, today home to premier boutique hotel Brewhouse Inn & Suites.

This circular metal staircase is one of the preserved architectural elements inside the National Register-listed circa-1882 former Pabst Brewing Co. Brew House at 1215 N. 10th St. in downtown Milwaukee, today home to boutique hotel The Brewhouse Inn & Suites.

The National Register-listed circa-1882 former Pabst Brewing Co. Brew House, 1215 N. 10th St. in downtown Milwaukee, has been restored and redeveloped into boutique hotel Brewhouse Inn & Suites. Among the hotel's most dramatic architectural features is the multi-story skylighted Brew House, featuring six preserved 500-barrel copper brew kettles and a circa-1890s stained glass window of King Gambrinus the legendary patrol of beer and brewing. The soaring Gambrinus window on the west end of the Brew House was commissioned by brewery namesake Capt. Frederick Pabst to inspire his brewery workers.

This weathered copper statue of Pabst Brewing Co. namesake Capt. Frederick Pabst is located in the Captain's Courtyard outdoor beer garden at Best Place at the Historic Pabst Brewery, 917 W. Juneau Ave. in downtown Milwaukee.

The Captain's Courtyard outdoor beer garden at Best Place at the Historic Pabst Brewery, 917 W. Juneau Ave. in downtown Milwaukee, part of the redevelopment of the 21-acre former Pabst Brewing Co. flagship brewery complex into the mixed-use The Brewery District.

Located on the west side of downtown Milwaukee, the restored and redeveloped circa-1880 General Offices Building of the historic Pabst Brewing Co. flagship brewery exudes a distinctly Old World feel.

The Sternewirt guest center at Best Place at the Historic Pabst Brewery, 917 W. Juneau Ave. in downtown Milwaukee, features this circa-1966 900-pound cast aluminum statue of King Gambrinus, the legendary patron of beer and brewers. The statue was the third commissioned for Pabst and forerunner Best Brewing Co., including wood statues by Gustav Haug in 1857 and Carl Kuehns in 1872. The 1966 cast aluminum reproduction was based on Kuehns' 1872 carving.

Exterior view of stained glass Pabst Breweries logo window atop the entrance to the circa-1880 Pabst Brewing Co. General Offices Building at 923 W. Juneau Ave. in downtown Milwaukee, today home to Best Place at the Historic Pabst Brewery.

Located at Best Place at the Historic Pabst Brewery, 917 W. Juneau Ave. in downtown Milwaukee, this circa-1966 900-pound cast aluminum statue depicts King Gambrinus, the legendary patron of beer and brewers. The statue was the third commissioned for Pabst and forerunner Best Brewing Co., including wood statues by Gustav Haug in 1857 and Carl Kuehns in 1872. The 1966 cast aluminum reproduction was based on Kuehns' 1872 carving.

The former Pabst Brewing Co. flagship brewery complex in downtown Milwaukee contains a number of interesting decorative features and flourishes. Sights at the post-Prohibition circa-1930's Pabst Sternewirt tap house and visitor center at 917 W. Juneau Ave., today part of Best Place at the Historic Pabst Brewer, includes this stained glass window of legendary brewing patron King Gambrinus and this copper cupola and weathervane depicting the old school tools of the brewer's art,

Preserved vintage Pabst Brewing Co. signage atop the former Pabst garage facility at 901 W. Winnebago St. in downtown Milwaukee. The building has since been redeveloped into housing as The Blue Ribbon Lofts.

Best Place at the Historic Pabst Brewery, 917 W. Juneau Ave. in downtown Milwaukee, features a variety of historic Pabst Brewing Co. memorabilia, including this sign advertising plant tours at Pabst's flagship Milwaukee brewery, which closed in 1996.

The circa-1880 Pabst Brewing Co. General Offices Building at 923 W. Juneau Ave. in downtown Milwaukee, today home to Best Place at the Historic Pabst Brewery.

German language wall mural at Best Place in the former Pabst Brewing Co. Sternewirt (Tap Room) guest tour center on Juneau Avenue in downtown Milwaukee: "[Unknown] what it. Drink what's clear. Tell what's true. Love what's rare."

Vintage Pabst Blue Ribbon signage on display at Best Place at the Historic Pabst Brewery, 917 W. Juneau Ave., on the former flagship Pabst Brewing Co. flagship brewery campus in downtown Milwaukee.

The Sternewirt (Tap Room) guest center at the historic Pabst Brewing Co. brewery complex in downtown Milwaukee. Until Pabst closed its Milwaukee brewery in 1996, the Sternewirt served as the beginning and ending site for public brewery tours. Starting at the Sternewirt, tours at Pabst Brewing Co. included visits to the Bottle House, Malt House, Brew House and distribution center before returning to the Sternewirt for complementary samples of Pabst beers including Pabst Blue Ribbon and its premium European-styled dark beer, Andeker. In keeping with its longtime hospitality role, the Sternewirt today hosts tours of the historic former brewery conducted by Best Place.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Place, the circa-1890 former Pabst Brewing Co. Boiler House at 1243 N. 10th St. in downtown Milwaukee once produced steam power and heat for the entire Pabst brewery complex. The 40,000-square-foot Boiler House was redeveloped in 2008 into office space. The building today features a 4,500 square foot vegetated roof, reducing rain water runoff and roof heat build-up.

This vintage bar anchors The Great Hall inside the former Pabst Brewing Co. General Offices Building 923 W. Juneau Ave. in downtown Milwaukee. The second floor event venue is part of Best Place at the History Pabst Brewery.

Interior entryway view at the circa-1880 Pabst Brewing Co. General Offices Building 923 W. Juneau Ave. in downtown Milwaukee, today part of Best Place at the Historic Pabst Brewery. The historic campus of Pabst Brewing Company's former flagship brewery encompasses seven city blocks on the west end of downtown Milwaukee.

The restored second floor Great Hall in the circa-1880 former Pabst Brewing Co. General Offices Building at 923 W. Juneau Ave., in downtown Milwaukee, now part of Best Place at the Historic Pabst Brewery. The Great Hall is used to house both corporate and private events, including the Brewery District's Holiday Art/Craft Pop-Up seen here on Saturday, Dec. 17.

Reverse view of entryway stained glass window in the circa-1880 Pabst Brewing Co. General Offices Building at 923 W. Juneau Ave. in downtown Milwaukee, now part of Best Place at the Historic Pabst Brewery.

Decorative roofline ornamentation at the former Pabst Brewing Co. Bottle House, 1125 N. 9th St. in downtown Milwaukee. Redeveloped as ELEVEN25 at Pabst, the historic former Pabst Bottle House today houses a mixed-use development including student apartments, offices, retail and The Restaurants at Eleven25.

Brewery namesake Captain Frederick Pabst's desk is preserved in the circa-1880 General Offices building at 923 W. Juneau Ave. in downtown Milwaukee on Pabst Brewing Company's former flagship brewery campus. The preserved and restored General Offices building is today part of Best Place at the Historic Pabst Brewery.

Brewery namesake Captain Frederick Pabst's office in the circa-1880 General Offices building at 923 W. Juneau Ave. in downtown Milwaukee on Pabst Brewing Company's former flagship brewery campus. The restored General Offices building is today part of Best Place at the Historic Pabst Brewery.

The former Pabst Brewing Co. distribution center, located along Juneau Avenue between North 8th and 9th streets in downtown Milwaukee and today known as The 42, has been redeveloped for a variety of uses, including a brewery incubator for Chicago-based Pilot Project Brewing as seen here, 1128 N. 9th St. Other tenants at The 42 include Extra Space Storage, TEKsystems and Badger Mutual Insurance.

Originally built adjacent to the Pabst Brewing Co. in 1873 as the First German Methodist Church, 1037 W. Juneau Ave., Pabst bought the church in 1898 and converted it into a popular German restaurant and tavern, The Forst Keller (1898-1973), which also served as a popular meeting spot for three singing societies - meeting hall for three singing societies – the Milwaukee Liederkranz, the Lieder Tafel, and the Bel Canto Chorus. The building, a Milwaukee historic landmark, saw later use by Pabst Brewing as a training center and was once proposed by Pabst as the site of a planned brewery museum to house the company's collection of old beer steins, antique brewing equipment and other mementos. Since redeveloped and originally home to a Pabst micro-brewery and tasting room, The Captain Pabst Pilot House (2016-2020), the structure now houses a satellite craft brewery and brew pub for Amherst-based Central Waters Brewing Co.

The historic former Pabst Brewing Co. grain silos at 1220 N. 11th St. in downtown Milwaukee, which once housed nearly 13,000 feet of grain storage capacity for brewing operations, tower 150 feet over The Brewery District. The 14-story cast concrete grain elevator was built in 1953. Originally advertising its flagship brew Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer, Pabst installed the enduring rotating sign atop the grain silos in the 1987. The restored rotating sign now advertises The Brewery District, a mixed-use redevelopment of Pabst's former flagship brewery, which closed in 1996.

Among the surviving functional decorative elements at Pabst Brewing Company's former flagship Milwaukee brewery is this circa-1920s International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) pendulum wall clock located in The Great Hall inside the circa-1880 General Offices Building, 923 W. Juneau Ave. in downtown Milwaukee, now part of Best Place at the Historic Pabst Brewery. The clock was manufactured by New York City-based IBM's International Time Recording Division, which had its works in Endicott, N.Y.l

Today a mixed-use neighborhood of historic preservation and urban renewal development as The Brewery District, the former Pabst Brewing Co. flagship brewery in downtown Milwaukee, established in 1844, four years before Wisconsin's statehood, retains much of its Old World-styled charm. Seen at foreground left is Pabst's former post-Prohibition circa-1930s visitor's center. Seen in the distance is Pabst's iconic bridge sign over Juneau Avenue, which link the former Malt House and Brew House.

One of the most iconic views of the former Pabst Brewing Co. flagship brewery complex in downtown Milwaukee is the enduring circa-1950s steel-framed bridge and neon sign over West Juneau Avenue at North 10th Street in downtown Milwaukee, connecting the former Malt House (left) on the southwest corner with the former Brew House on the northwest corner. Earlier connecting bridges and signs over Juneau Avenue at the site back to the 1880s and Pabst forerunner Best Brewing Co. Seen towering in the distance at top right with the rotating sign for The Brewery District is the former 14-story Pabst grain elevator.

One of the most striking major historic redevelopment on the campus of the former flagship Pabst Brewing Co. brewery is that of the circa-1882 Brew House at 1215 N. 10th St. in downtown Milwaukee, on the northwest corner of North 10th Street and West Juneau Avenue. The Brew House is anchored by gastropub On Tap and Brewhouse Inn & Suites, a premier boutique hotel that incorporates many of the structure's most dramatic elements, including the copper brew kettles and soaring stained glass window of King Gambrinus, the legendary patron of brewers.

One of the most iconic views of the former Pabst Brewing Co. flagship brewery complex in downtown Milwaukee is the enduring circa-1950s steel-framed bridge and neon sign over West Juneau Avenue at North 10th Street in downtown Milwaukee, connecting the former 1882 Malt House (left) on the southwest corner with the former 1882 Brew House on the northwest corner. Earlier connecting bridges and signs over Juneau Avenue at the site back to the 1880s and Pabst forerunner Best Brewing Co. Both structures have been preserved, restored and repurposed as part of The Brewery District redevelopment of the 27-building, 7-block Pabst brewery complex into a mixed-use neighborhood of residential, commercial and retail development.

While many of the 27 buildings on the seven city block campus of the flagship former Pabst Brewing Co. brewery in downtown Milwaukee were saved, restored and repurposed for The Brewery District mixed use neighborhood development, other former brewery buildings were razed to make way for new development. Built on the site of the former Pabst Carriage and Horse Stables Building, the urban redevelopment five-story Pabst Professional Center at 1036 W. Juneau Ave. features 72,000 square feet of modern office space. Built at a cost of $10 million, anchor tenants include Huntington Bank, Klement Sausage Co., Inc., Logicalis, Inc., SafeNet Consulting, and Pabst Brewing Co.

Intricate and artistic decorative flourished are included in many of the buildings on the historic former Pabst Brewing Co. campus in downtown Milwaukee, including this stained glass window featuring the Pabst Milwaukee logo, featuring a hop leaf and the "B" tribute to brewery founder Jacob Best and forerunner Best Brewing Co. The window here is found in the second floor The Great Hall event facility in the circa-1880 General Offices building at 923 Juneau Ave. that once housed the company's administrative offices. The building, along with the adjacent circa-1930s former Pabst visitors center and Sternewirt taproom are preserved today as part of Best Place at the Historic Pabst Brewery and enjoy yourself surrounded by Old World Charm and Hospitality, which offers beer history tours, a vintage gift shop filled with a selection of retro Pabst items, and event space for corporate or individual events.

The former Pabst Brewing Co. flagship brewery complex in downtown Milwaukee contains a number of interesting decorative features and flourishes, including this copper cupola and weathervane atop the post-Prohibition circa-1930s former Pabst visitor center at 917 W. Juneau Ave. The unusual weathervane features the old school tools of the brewer's art,

Built in 1890, the National Register-listed former Pabst Brewing Co. Boiler House at 1243 N. 10th St. in downtown Milwaukee was once home to the boiler system that produced steam power and heat for the sprawling Pabst brewery complex. The 40,000-square-foot Cream City brick facility was redeveloped in 2008 into an office building. Sustainability features incorporated into the Boiler House redevelopment include a 4,500-square-foot vegetated roof to reduce rainwater runoff and roof heat build-up.

The former Cream City brick circa-1882 Pabst Brewing Co. Malt House at 1009 W. Juneau Ave. in downtown Milwaukee was once one of the world's largest brewery-owned malt houses and, later in its history, was the only brewery owned-and-operated malting facility in Milwaukee. As part of the redevelopment of the 27-building, 7-block flagship former Pabst Milwaukee brewery (1844-1996) as The Brewery District, the building has since been restored and repurposed as The Malt House, which features 118 market rate apartments and features unique decorative elements including preserved malting kilns and repurposed historic brewery artifacts.

Redevelopment of the former Pabst Brewing Co. flagship brewery at North 10th Street and West Juneau Ave. in downtown Milwaukee as the mixed use urban renewal Brewery District development includes several tributes to the 21-acre complex's former 1844-1996 history as a major center of the city's and nation's brewing industry, including this Pabst logo manhole cover. The "B" at the center of the heritage Pabst logo pays homage to Pabst forerunner Best Brewing Co.

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