Villa Terrace, a 19,000-square-foot Italian Renaissance estate on Milwaukee's East Side, offers sweeping views of Lake Michigan alongside world-class gardens, a summer art exhibit, and an upcoming chamber music festival.The esta te was built in 1924 for Agnes and Lloyd Smith. Lloyd Smith was president of A.O. Smith Company, and the couple raised 6 children in the home."They had taken a tour to Italy and Agnes loved Italy. She selected this location and said, let this be my Mediterranean," Barbara Velez said.Watch: Kidd O'Shea visits Milwaukee's Villa Terrace: Learning about Milwaukee's Villa TerraceThe Smiths named the building Sopramare, which means "above the sea" in Italian. The estate became a sought-after destination for holiday gatherings, and the Smith family remains involved with Villa Terrace today.Agnes Smith donated the estate to Milwaukee County in 1966 with the condition that it remain open to the public and serve as a museum."We honor that legacy by providing a lot of programming that opens it up to all people in Milwaukee," Velez said.The estate was designed by architect David Adler and is the only remaining home in Milwaukee that he designed. Its gardens are ranked among the top 100 gardens in the world of their type."The gardens particularly are very restive in sometimes unsettled times," Velez said.Villa Terrace is currently hosting a summer art exhibit featuring five decades of paintings by Milwaukee artist Jan Serr. Serr began her artistic career as a mezzo-soprano and pianist before translating that creativity to canvas. An upcoming chamber music festival, presented by Yaniv Dinur, former conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, will take place at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 27, Friday, Aug. 28, and Sunday, Aug. 30. Ticket information is available at villaterrace.org. Supporting Villa Terrace through event attendance helps fund the upkeep and restoration of the century-old estate and keeps its programming accessible to all."It enables us to present programming that's open and wholesome for everyone," Velez said.This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.Its about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for TMJ4 on your device.Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.Report a typo or error // Submit a news tip ...read more read less