Manufacturer: L. Hutschenreuther AG
User: Pfister Hotel
Date of plate: 1920 – 1939
Notes: Located at 424 East Wisconsin Avenue at Jefferson in Milwaukee, Wis., the eight-story, 200-room hotel designed by H. Charles Koch and built by Charles F. Pfister opened May 1, 1893.
The mezzanine contained a large art collection that belonged to Mr. Pfister – – it was the first hotel with individual room thermostats – – the convention facilities would seat 2,000.
The 1927 Hotel Red Books tells us the hotel was completely remodeled in 1926 with one entire floor of banquet and private dining rooms. The 1929 HRB has the logo found in the middle of this plate.
The 1968 HRB shows the new $7,000,000 Pfister Hotel & Tower with "400 guest rooms and suites, rooftop swimming pool; top-of-the-tower cocktail lounge (23-stories up, called BLU); restaurants, coffee shop; entertainment. Free Parking. Largest meeting facilities in Wisconsin all on one floor."
Sources:
Larry Paul's 20th Century Hotel Research Database
Hotel Red Books, 1927 – 1968
White body plate. Wide band of brown over a band of pale blue on rim with bell flowers and broken by cartouches of geometrics in white and figures in black. The logo in the well is a crest of blue with the word "Salve" and a knight over it all surrounded by acanthus leaves. Hotel Pfister is below. Shenango China produced this pattern in 1948 and Altman's 1969 "Book of Buffalo Pottery" also lists the Pfister as a customer on page 181.
ID and photos contributed by dbstoneware
Additional information contributed by L. Paul