CUNA Mutual: At Home in Madison
By Michael Bridgeman
Last November, I read that CUNA Mutual planned to demolish their distinctive circular building and erect a new structure in its place. When I moved here in 1982, the round building was already a landmark (in the unofficial sense) on Madison’s west side. My curiosity was piqued. I didn’t know much about this particular building or the history of CUNA Mutual in Madison.
The distinctive Credit Union Center International Building at 5810 Mineral Point Rd. was dedicated in 1980. It will be demolished beginning in April. (Image: Postcard, author’s collection) [Click photos to enlarge]
This is how the new 5810 building will appear from Mineral Point Road. It’s the work of Eppstein Uhen Architects, a Milwaukee-based firm with an office in Madison. (Image: CUNA Mutual Group)
A visit to the CUNA Mutual website puts it this way: “Our company was founded more than 80 years ago by credit union leaders who were looking for an insurance and investment partner they could trust. For generations, we’ve helped credit unions, businesses and hardworking Americans build financial security.” A history of CUNA Mutual published in 1991 (“The Debt Shall Die With the Debtor”) describes the ups and downs, tensions, pressures, and opportunities since the company was created in 1935 and leaders decided to establish the headquarters in Madison, initially for a trial period of three years.
In a recent conversation, Phil Tschudy, spokesman for CUNA Mutual, said that 1,600 people now work on CUNA Mutual’s Madison campus as a part of an organization with 3,600 employees worldwide. Company assets in 2018 were $20.6 billion.
Here I’ll focus on the buildings that CUNA Mutual has called home in Madison. They embody the growth of the organization and are a good local example of the rise of the modern office campus.
In 1935, CUNA Mutual purchased this house at 142 E. Gilman St. It was demolished in about 1940 to make way for a National Guardian Life Insurance building, which in turn was razed in 1970 for construction of Verex Plaza. (Image: CUNA Mutual Group
The First Home (East Gilman Street)
For their first office, CUNA Mutual found a house near the old Executive Residence. The Italianate house, built in 1863, had most recently been home to a fraternity. Named Raiffeisen House to honor a credit union pioneer, it was home to CUNA Mutual, an affiliate organization, and two secretaries (who had living quarters in the house, too).
The Second Building (East Washington Avenue)
By 1939, CUNA Mutual had outgrown Raiffeisen House and moved to the former Fuller & Johnson office building. Madison was not always secure as the headquarters city, even among some CUNA Mutual leaders. Nevertheless, by 1940 officials had decided that, “Madison afforded the best facilities because of its central location and natural advantages.” The move was “temporary” until a new building could be erected. Construction was ready to begin in 1941 when the onset of World War II put plans on hold.
The oldest part of the Fuller & Johnson office building, a city-designated landmark, at 1342 E. Washington Ave. dates to 1885. CUNA Mutual occupied it during the 1940s and today it is home to Pasqual’s Cantina. (Image: CUNA Mutual Group)
Filene House was built just east of the Yahara River at 1617 Sherman Ave. It grew wings over time and now serves as the office for Care Wisconsin, a managed care organization. (Image: H.S. Crocker postcard, author’s collection)
A Home of Their Own (Sherman Avenue)
It wasn’t until 1950 that CUNA Mutual (and affiliates) moved to its third home in Madison, a two-story brick building designed by Law, Law, Potter & Nystrom. The new office was a big deal: on May 14 President Harry Truman was on hand for the dedication of Filene House, a memorial to Edward Filene, founder of the credit union movement in the United States.
This postcard view shows the original structure at 5910 Mineral Point Rd. as it appeared in 1960. (Image: Wollin Studios postcard, author’s collection)
Moving West (Mineral Point Road)
It only took ten years for the next big step, a new building on Mineral Point Road. In 1960, Madison’s population had climbed to 126,706, a 32 percent jump in ten years. In the summer of 1959, CUNA Mutual started building on 18 acres that had been annexed by the city, pushing the city limits west of Rosa Road. Aerial photos show farm fields stretching west and south of the construction site.
For their new three-story building, CUNA Mutual hired Kaeser & McLeod, a pairing of architect William V. Kaeser, who had started his Madison practice in 1935, and structural engineer Arthur McLeod. By September of 1960, the modern edifice was ready for occupancy by 160 employees, while affiliated companies continued to occupy Filene House.
This aerial view of the CUNA Mutual campus shows the principal buildings after 1981, each known by its address on Mineral Point Road. The 5910 building at the top of the photo developed a footprint many times its original size, though the brick mass and chimney of the original 1960 structure are still recognizable. The two buildings dating to 1980 are the circular 5810 at the center of the photo and 5710, whose roof is visible in the lower right corner. Mineral Point Road cuts across the lower left corner. (Image: CUNA Mutual Group)
The Campus Expands
That first building on the west side would grow many times over the years. Two new structures were dedicated in 1980: the circular International Building (5810 Mineral Point Rd.) and a separate four-story building to the east (5710 Mineral Point Rd. near the intersection with Rosa Road). Potter, Lawson & Pawlowsky—the successor firm to Law, Law & Potter—were the architects for the new facilities and J. H. Findorff & Son were the builders. “All of the CUNA Mutual entities came together in 1980 on Mineral Point Road,” Tschudy told me. That included staff who had remained at Filene House.
Continued Growth When I spoke with Tschudy, he said that demolition of 5810, the circular building, will begin in April and it will be replaced with a five-story building about four times larger that will help people work better together and improve the work environment. There also will be improvements to energy use and storm water management. I’d learned that the campus buildings are connected by underground tunnels and Tschudy confirmed that the tunnels and underground parking will be reconfigured to accommodate the newest structure.
At the beginning of this post I wrote that the CUNA Mutual Group’s home on Mineral Point Road is a good example of the rise of the modern office campus. In the late 1950s the company was at the beginning of a trend to create corporate campuses beyond the edges of cities. University Research Park, established in 1984 and partly across the street from CUNA Mutual, represents what has today become a typical multi-tenant campus of widely-spaced, free-standing buildings. (Epic Systems in Verona is a whole different story.) With a modest 18 acres adjacent to established residential neighborhoods, CUNA Mutual has had to develop a more compact footprint. At a time when communities are emphasizing sustainability and density, the CUNA Mutual campus now seems positively urban.
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Special thanks to Phil Tschudy and Theresa Judd of CUNA Mutual for their help in preparing this post.