Milwaukee's Gesu Church restoration rises to heavenly heights

As most of the city watches, Matt Millen's crews will soon be doing restoration work 260 feet in the air on a 119-year-old building that is, technically, owned by God.

Talk about pressure.

Millen, a fifth-generation family co-owner of Millen Roofing in Milwaukee, is leading his company's work as part of a team of companies restoring the historic Gesu Church at N. 12th St. and W. Wisconsin Ave.

Millen Roofing's part of the project is restoring the west steeple of the church.

Millen Roofing specializes in restoring and repairing roofs that are usually really old and really tough to reach. The roofing projects are usually high profile, with historical and architectural significance.

His company specializes in restoring historic facilities around the United States.

"We realize that these buildings are symbols to a community," Millen said. "They are more important to the people we are working with than some other building."

Gesu is a Catholic parish of the Milwaukee Archdiocese that is operated by the Jesuit order. The classic cathedral-style Gothic church rises over the east end of the Marquette University campus on the west side of downtown and towers above the state's busiest freeway interchange, where 300,000 vehicles pass by each day.

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