New to the National and State Registers
By Michael Bridgeman
Three properties in Madison were added to the National or State Register of Historic Places in 2019. Historic districts in two nearby communities were new to the lists as well.
In 2019, there were 34 new Wisconsin listings in the National Register of Historic Places, including seven districts and five shipwrecks, according to Peggy Veregin, National Register coordinator in the State Historic Preservation Office at the Wisconsin Historical Society.
Like many of us interested in preservation, I have long been aware of the National Register of Historic Places. For a long time, I didn’t know there is also a State Register for Wisconsin. Together they are an important record and resource for places worthy of preservation for their architecture, archaeology, engineering or culture. You’ll find more about both at the Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS) website, About the National Register and State Register of Historic Places.
Listing on either register does not restrict what a private owner may do with a listed property when no public dollars are used toward the project. (It’s local historic preservation ordinances that offer the strongest legal protection for historic properties.) A big plus of being on the National or State Register is eligibility for federal or state income tax credits as detailed on the WHS website, Tax Credits for Historic Building Rehabilitation.
Nominations to the National and State Registers are presented to the Historic Preservation Review Board, a body appointed by the governor that meets quarterly. The meetings are open to the public. I attend whenever I am able to learn what’s new in Wisconsin preservation.
The glass-topped court runs through the building from King Street to S. Pinckney Street and now includes seating for Ancora Coffee. (Photo: Michael Bridgeman)
King Street Arcade
The King Street Arcade is one of three new register sites in Madison. Built in 1927 and designed by Madison architect Henry Charles Huart, it is the only historic example of an arcade building in Madison; shopping arcades are usually found in much larger cities in Europe and North America. The polygonal site puts the main façade at 107-113 King St. with a second façade at 115-117 S. Pinckney St.
Click on photos to enlarge.
The King Street façade of the arcade building. (Photo: Michael Bridgeman)
University of Wisconsin Arboretum
The 1,200-acre University of Wisconsin Arboretum, located south of Lake Wingra, was added to the register as “the site of the first experiments in the ecological restoration of prairie ecological communities.” The nomination notes landscapes, roadways, and a number of historic buildings.
The UW Arboretum in winter. (Photo: UW Arboretum)
The Arboretum began when UW-Madison acquired 245 acres in 1932 and by 1940 the Arboretum had acquired most of its current acreage. The Arboretum, which is open to the public year round, maintains a detailed website at arboretum.wisc.edu.
Madison Vocational School
The Madison Vocational School had its beginnings in 1912 as a product of the Continuation School Act that enabled the establishment of educational opportunities for employed youth who had not finished high school. By 1921, when the first phase of the present building opened, it was known as Madison Vocational School.
The main entrance to the Madison Vocational School is at 211 N. Carroll St. (Photo: Wisconsin Historical Society Architecture and History Inventory)
The six-story addition to the Vocational School was erected in two stages. (Photo: Wisconsin Historical Society Architecture and History Inventory)
Ferdinand Kronenberg was the architect of the 1921 building. A four-story addition designed by Law, Law, Potter and Nystrom was built in 1949-1950 and expanded to six stories by the same firm in 1964. The building continued to serve Madison Area Technical College until 2018. Work is now underway to convert the building into a hotel that will also include new construction.
Main Street Historic District, Mount Horeb
Historic districts in two Dane County communities were added to the National Register in 2019. The Main Street Historic District in Mount Horeb includes 27 contributing buildings erected between 1867 and 1948. The commercial buildings, one to three stories high, are located on six blocks in the central business district. They include examples of Queen Anne, Classical Revival, Craftsman, and Art Deco styles.
The O.B. Dahle and Son General Store at 201-207 E. Main St. in Mount Horeb changed and grew over time. The side façade of the original two-story building dates to 1887, a new front was added in 1920, and a one-story addition was built in 1904. (Photo: Wisconsin Historical Society Architecture and History Inventory)
The 1895 City Hall is described as “the most architecturally distinguished building in the district.” It is among the structures damaged (two others were destroyed) by a natural gas explosion in Sun Prairie in July 2018. (Photo: Wisconsin Historical Society Architecture and History Inventory)
Sun Prairie Downtown Historic District
The Sun Prairie Downtown Historic District contains 28 buildings on East Main Street in the city’s downtown. The new district contains most of Sun Prairie’s intact nineteenth and twentieth century commercial buildings dating from 1878 to 1969. In addition to vernacular buildings, styles in the district include Queen Anne; Romanesque, Neoclassical and Georgian Revival; and Contemporary.