The Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Milwaukee is a historic building that is both a City of Milwaukee Landmark as well as listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The original portion of the building was constructed in the Romanesque Revival style between 1892-1899 while a larger addition was constructed to the south between 1929-1932.

In 2017, Harboe Architects was hired as the historic preservation architect to assist in the production of the report Program Development Study (PDS) -- Fire Protection and Life Safety Upgrades. The historic preservation scope of work included providing recommendations to mitigate the adverse affects of installing fire alarm and fire suppression systems in historically sensitive interior spaces. Following the completion of the PDS, Harboe Architects was retained to work on the Program of Requirements (POR) -- Fire Protection and Life Safety Upgrades, which was utilized to solicit A/E firms to design the upgrades. This report was completed in 2018.

In 2020, Harboe Architects was hired as the historic preservation architect to be part of the A/E team on the Fire Alarm Upgrades project. Our role is to work with the lead architect in laying out the routing and location of fire alarm devices in historically significant spaces so it has the least impact on the historic materials and appearance of the space.