Blacksmith; b. September 20, 1871. Master metalworker Cyril Colnik created decorative wrought iron work for dozens of homes and public buildings in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Milwaukee. Born in Trieben, Austria, Colnik studied ironworking in Vienna and Munich. He came to the United States at the age of twenty as an assistant for the German metalwork exhibition at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. At the World's Fair, he won recognition for his skillful "Masterpiece," a sampler of ironworking techniques (now in the collection of the Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum, Milwaukee).

After the World's Fair, Colnik settled in Milwaukee, where he set up shop as a "kunstschlosser," an artistic metalworker. He designed ornamental wrought iron gates, fences, railings and balustrades as well as iron, brass, and nickel candelabras, lamps, vases, and door hardware. He created decorative metalwork for the homes of many prominent Milwaukeeans, including Captain Frederick Pabst, Paula and Erwin Uihlein, and A. O. Smith (whose home is now the site of the Villa Terrace museum). In the 1930s, Colnik executed one of his largest public commissions, the gates for the Wisconsin Memorial Park of Brookfield.

Colnik continued to work at his forge until his retirement in 1955. In 2008, he was recognized with a Wisconsin Visual Art Lifetime Achievement Award.

Much of Colnik¿s architectural iron work still survives in Milwaukee; several examples are illustrated in Virginia Jones Maher, "The Wrought Iron Artistry of Cyril Colnik," Wisconsin Academy Review 44:3 (1998). View examples of Colnik's domestic production work, including candelabras, vases, and other home furnishings, in the Wisconsin Decorative Arts Database.

Learn More

Dictionary of Wisconsin History

Explore more than 1,600 people, places and events in Wisconsin history.

[Source: Milw. Sentinel, Oct. 26, 1985; Betha Whyte, Craftsmen of Wisconsin (Racine, 1971); Virginia Maher, "Wrought Iron Artistry of Cyril Colnik," Wisconsin Academy Review 44:3; "Forged Elegance: The Lifework of Master Blacksmith Cyril Colnik," DVD, 1998.]