Property Record
11737 W BURLEIGH ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | BOWLERO BOWLING ALLEYS |
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| Other Name: | AMF BOWLING |
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| Reference Number: | 233284 |
| Location (Address): | 11737 W BURLEIGH ST |
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| County: | Milwaukee |
| City: | Wauwatosa |
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| Year Built: | 1959 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 2016 |
| Historic Use: | recreational building/gymnasium |
| Architectural Style: | Art/Streamline Moderne |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Concrete |
| Architect: | Von Grossman Architects |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
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| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | The Bowler Bowling Lanes, designed by architects Van Grossman and Associates and constructed in 1959, contains 72 bowling lanes, a bar, restaurant, and other facilities. The bowling alleys are contained within three identical large wide-span buildings. The facility had a non-extant swimming pool and was a popular destination in Wauwatosa and the surrounding region in the 1960s and 1970s as Milwaukee County is considered a center for bowling as a pastime. The number of alleys were expanded in 1967. One of the largest bowling alleys in the country, the Bowlero Bowling Lanes have hosted a large number of professional bowling competitions. Though there was once another equally large bowling facility in Milwaukee, the Celebrity Lanes, located at 5727 South 27th Street, it closed in 1994 while Bowlero remains in operation. The interior was renovated in 2000 and the lanes are presently owned by AMF, American Recreation Centers. |
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| Bibliographic References: | "Big Bowling Alleys Built in Suburbs," Milwaukee Sentinel, 25 July 1959. Cites facility has 48 lanes, 55,000 square feet, cost approx. $1,600,000, architect and "claimed to be the largest in Wisconsin." ‘Rolling with the Champs,’ Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, April 9, 1995. Schmidt, Doug. They Came to Bowl: How Milwaukee Became America’s Tenpin Capital. Madison, WI: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2007. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |