19th century american antique solid oak wood box-shaped interior newel post salvaged from the metropolitan hall designed by architect otto strack in 1890-91. the intact varnished wood newel post contains deeply incised lines and grooves topped with an unornamented pyramidal-shaped newel cap. exact fabricator unknown. the metropolitan social hall with integrated pabst tavern, commonly referred to as "the met," was designed by architect otto strack, who was one of the most notable and well-respected architects of milwaukee during that time period. in 1886, strack was a self-employed architect based in chicago, where he was involved in designing several buildings before moving to milwaukee two years later where he accepted a position as supervising architect of the pabst brewing company. during his tenure with pabst, he oversaw the construction of several wood-framed (including the metropolitan) and brick corner taverns in milwaukee and chicago. in addition, he supervised the construction of the pabst building, mlwaukee's first skyscraper designed by archtect solon s. berman. his most notable commission was the pabst theater (extant) constructed in 1895. despite leaving pabst to open his own architectural firm, the theater represented his continued involvement with the beer baron. looking back, strack acknowledged that the pabst theater was his greatest achievement. he died at the age of 78 in 1935. the pabst tavern was widely considered a significant representation of a brewery-owned milwaukee corner tavern constructed in the american victorian queen anne style (the only building utilizing this style of architecture for their taverns). the tavern was constructed in 1890-91, which was a remarkably competitive time where breweries including schlitz, blatz and miller were all vigorously securing corner lots to erect saloons that would anchor their presence in the surrounding neighborhoods filled with patrons that were served only their brand of beer. pabst tavern was used as a saloon and dance and/or social hall for nearly all of its existence, with the exception of prohibition and a brief time later when the hall was used as a church in the 1960's. during pabst’s thirty-year ownership of the corner building, they leased it to a variety of barkeepers who occupied living quarters on the uppermost floor. these proprietors included: charles mann (1890-1891); jacob blum (1894-1897); william guetzlaff (1898-1901); mrs. william guetzlaff (1902); gustav marien (1903); august j. schwerin, jr. (1904); louis blank (1905-1910) and emil kruse (1911-1921). during prohibition, the proprietors included: louis j. schoeneck (1922); emil holland (1923-1924); charles j. heicher (1926-1927) and charles h. gibbs (1929), which operated the former-tavern as a “soft drink parlor." for the next several decades the metropolitan operated under new ownership time and again, along with several poorly conceived and damaging alterations to the exterior and parts of the interior. incredibly, several interior and exterior architectural characteristics dating back to the building's construction, survived mostly intact. measures 5 1/2 x 5 3/4 x 37 inches.