SOUTHEASTERN WISCONSIN - Wisconsin - page 168

SIGHTS
MM Racine Art Museum (RAM)
The impressive Racine Art Museum (RAM, 441 Main St., 262/638-8300,
www.ramart.org , 10am-5pm Tues.-Sun., $5), in a scintillatingly chic edifice (yet meshed
superbly with its 1860s structure) in the city center, is, with little hyperbole, one of the best
in the Midwest. Holding one of the top three collections (more than 4,000 pieces) of Works
Progress Administration's traditional arts and crafts in the United States, it is rivaled only
by the Smithsonian and the American Craft Museum in New York. As an aside, this build-
ing, once a bank, was the place John Dillinger robbed in 1933.
MM Golden Rondelle Theater
It's hard to miss the globular-shaped Golden Rondelle Theater (1525 Howe St., 262/
631-2154), with its 90-foot arching columns, on the city's south side. The most distinctive
of Racine's architectural landmarks, it was unveiled at the New York World's Fair in
1964-1965.Afterwards,TaliesinAssociateArchitectswascommissionedtobringthetheat-
er to Racine and incorporate it near the SC Johnson Wax administration building, also de-
signed by Wright. Free tours of the SC Johnson administration building depart the theater
at various times on Fridays only; reservations are necessary. The Great Workroom is worth
the tour itself. Worth the visit as well is the company's new (as of 2010) Fortaleza Hall, a
gorgeous, glass new employees' hall with a small museum to company history and works
by Frank Lloyd Wright.