IIDA Wisconsin honors Lucille with Award of Excellence

Lucille, a 1900s-era bank turned office transformed into a pizzeria and night club, was honored by the International Interior Design Association Wisconsin Chapter with an Award of Excellence on May 18 at the Celebrate In Design celebration. The design marries a relaxed Wisconsin and vintage punk vibe, celebrating the building’s history through soulful reclaimed and modern materials, which delicately balance masculine and feminine elements.

Light pours through 20-foot-tall windows that fold fully open at street level. Through reclaimed vestibule doors and across new mosaics, the focal point of the restaurant is a pewter bar grounded by barn wood flooring and showcasing an authentic Neapolitan pizza oven. The 27-foot floor-to-floor volume created by a new second-floor balcony and stair way is punctuated by three 1930’s gothic-style chandeliers salvaged from the Chicago Athletic Club.

Communal tables custom made of heart pine with distressed and waxed steel scalloped legs use casters and eye hooks to allow for innumerable arrangements.  Upstairs, custom vintage booth designs marry comfort, style, and detail embodying the unexpected melding of styles with flannel, tufted felt, diamond-stitched leather, and tables of skip-planed and white oak.

A mural by a local artist and lit by neon lights leads to the original vault turned opulent late-night lounge. Warm original brass details and weathered oak chevron floor compliments a tufted velvet three-sided banquette in this sought-after social hideaway.

Restaurateurs Patrick Sweeney and Joshua Berkson, who also own the popular Merchant restaurant on the same block, describe the restaurant, which opened in May 2016, as “an indoor/outdoor, double-decker, hi-fi American pizza venue.”

Lucille was also honored by InBusiness magazine with a 2017 Commercial Design Award and by the American Institute of Architects with a 2017 Merit Award.