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Built in 1964-1965, this International Style Modern office building has surprisingly little information available about it. The building replaced the historic Vilas mansion, home to several notable early and prominent citizens of Madison, and a favorite building of Frank Lloyd Wright. The demolition of the mansion and construction of this building catalyzed the creation of the historic preservation movement in Madison and the state of Wisconsin, as it was massively out of scale with the surrounding buildings and the loss of a historical landmark as significant as the Vilas House made many in the community realize the need to protect the city’s historic resources. The building features a glass curtain wall, seemingly inspired by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, sandwiched between a parapet and floor structure clad in metal panels with a trapezoid geometric motif at the top and bottom, which is seemingly inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright, a recessed first floor with Le Corbusier-inspired pilotis, or exposed columns, around the perimeter of the floor, framing storefronts, and clad in stone panels, a penthouse with an oversized cap, exposed columns, and stone panel cladding, a low-slope roof, and a large lawn to the side and rear, which conceals the building’s underground parking garage. The building, despite being a quite excellent example of mid-20th Century modern architecture, is a noncontributing structure in the Mansion Hill Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997. The building’s architecture seems to have escaped notice by the local architectural historian and history groups despite being a quite well-designed International Style building.
Built in 1921, this Renaissance Revival-style building was designed by Claude and Starck for the Castle and Doyle Fuel Company, replacing the former Madison Fire Department Station 2 that had been previously located on the site. The building is clad in terra cotta with decorative motifs, including urns, flowers, and plants, with the pilasters featuring the richest detail highlighted by recessed green glazed backgrounds contrasting with the white reliefs, two doorways flanking a large plate glass window on the first floor with prism glass transoms, the words “Coal Castle & Doyle Coal” over the doors and first floor window, a band of decorative geometric trim below the second floor window sill, one-over-one windows on the second floor, a wave motif above the second floor windows, a cornice with greek key and egg and dart motifs, and a stepped parapet enclosing a low-slope roof. The building is a contributing structure in the State Street Historic District, listed on the Wisconsin State Register of Historic Places.
A student signs the book signifying that she is becoming part of the UW-Superior incoming class. Upon signing the book, each student received the tassel to be worn on his or her mortarboard at Commencement.
Portage, Wisconsin
Constructed started in 1849 to connect the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers. The full canal system was not completed until 1876 by the Army Corps of Engineers but by then the railroad had bypassed water as the main mode of transportation.
Built in 1930 and expanded in 1938 and 1959, this Art Deco-style 11-story office building was designed by Arthur Peabody to house various government offices for the State of Wisconsin. The building’s north wing was constructed first, with the central wing being completed in 1938-1939, utilizing funds from the New Deal-era Public Works Administration (PWA), and the south wing in 1956-1959. Despite the long time span from the building’s origins to its completion, very few of the decorative details were changed and remained remarkably consistent despite the rise of the modernist movement and the Art Deco style falling out of favor by the time the south wing was completed, which in most circumstances led to buildings with portions that did not match the original vision. The building was apparently despised by Frank Lloyd Wright, whom called it a “monstrosity to anyone who thinks” and went on to call the City of Madison a “provincial capitol” that was “neither scholarly or gentlemanly.” Nevertheless, the building is a popular and generally well-liked building by the citizens of Madison. The building is the tallest office building in Downtown Madison, owing to its location close to Lake Monona, which includes a two-story podium that has a parking area on the roof, and the building sits right at the 187-foot height limit imposed throughout Downtown Madison to not block views of the State Capitol dome.
The building is faced with gray granite blocks and is E-shaped, with a tall 11-story tower in the center flanked by two wings of six and seven stories that are at equal height, with the adjacent street sloping downwards along the width of the building’s facade. The stone blocks are mostly unadorned, but the building’s east and west wings feature intricately carved reliefs on the spandrel between the first and second floors, in the spandrel between the fourth and fifth floor, in a ribbon on the sixth floor between window openings, and on the parapet, with additional decorative reliefs over the entrance doors and decorative pilasters with acroterions at the top that run between the paired windows on the second, third, and fourth floors. The eleven-story central wing features a band of decorative carved reliefs at the spandrel between the second and third floors, at the spandrel between the sixth and seventh floors, at the spandrel between the eighth and ninth floors, between window openings on the tenth floor, and around the top of the parapet on the tower and on the penthouse, with decorative Egyptian-inspired columns flanking the front entrance, and pilasters between paired windows on the third through eighth floors that terminate at acroterions on the ninth floor. The tower tapers at the eleventh floor to a narrower parapet, with the windows arranged in pairs at recessed portions of the facade that align with the smaller parapet above rather than the larger structure below. The building’s entrance doors are made of bronze with bronze Art Deco-style sconces on the east and west wings and an art deco chandelier at the main entrance at the base of the tower. The main entrance in the tower features a large transom with decorative bronze trim and a carved decorative stone trim surround, decorative lamppost fixtures flanking the window bays on either side of the doorway, featuring shields with the state motto, “Forward,” emblazoned on them, and is somewhat repeated on the west wing, though simplified, with the original entrance in the east wing being the smallest of the three entrances, with only a pair of doors in an unadorned recessed opening The windows on the “shaft” portion of the building’s design composition often feature recessed black-painted spandrel panels, with the windows at the top and bottom not including this feature. The decorative trim work continues around the side of the building and onto the rear facade facing Lake Monona, but is absent from the two light wells that flank the central tower, where portions of the facade are instead faced with buff brick, though still featuring the same fenestration pattern. The two wings also feature recessed penthouses faced in buff brick, with the east wing’s penthouse being added with the 1938-1939 construction of the tower wing and being smaller than the penthouse atop the later west wing.
The interior of the building is mostly modernized and relatively unremarkable office space that has been modified in multiple renovations. However, the main lobby features beautiful and colorful terrazzo floors, multi-colored marble wall cladding, bronze railings, fixtures, doors, and trim, decorative trim on the ceiling, including shell and floral motifs, and geometric chevron motifs. The space has been extensively described in publications and articles, but it appears that no images of it exist or are available, which sadly makes this treasure something that the public is unable to enjoy or appreciate. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, and today houses the offices for multiple departments of the State of Wisconsin. The building has undergone renovations and restorations in the past four decades, which have retained its beautiful exterior and most notable interior spaces, while allowing it to meet the needs of the state’s office workers.
These images were made during a journey down Rustic Road 58 in Oneida County on June 20, 2017.
R-58 skirts scenic Northwoods’ lakes while wandering through thick pine and hardwood forests. This route crosses a railroad bed used in the 1800s as a main line to Minocqua. It has been converted to the Bearskin State Trail for hiking and bicycling. This route intersects with the Tomahawk River and two small creeks, through cedar lowlands and dense pine and hardwood forests.
Wisconsin's Rustic Roads system was created to preserve many of the state's scenic, lightly traveled country roads. Features of Rustic Roads include rugged terrain, native vegetation and wildlife, or open areas with agricultural vistas.
Please don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission. © All rights reserved.
Lake Five is an unincorporated community located in the town of Lisbon, Waukesha County, Wisconsin, United States. Lake Five is located on County Highway Q along the northern border of Waukesha County; it abuts the village of Richfield to the north.
This was my dinner at the Flat Iron Tavern in downtown Madison, Wisconsin. I had a very tasty sandwich with potato chips and a dill pickle spear. The food was delicious, but for the life of me I can't remember what kind of sandwich it was.
A big black and yellow argiope hanging around on my blue mist spirea plant. From the looks of that mangled web, it ensnared something recently. Oh how I wish I had the nerve to shoot this with my macro lens. :)
View on black, if you dare. Mwahaha!!
This historic, though heavily remodeled bar and grill in Whitelaw, WI. is perhaps the perfect encapsulation of small town living in Wisconsin.
These images were made during a journey down Rustic Road 74 in Florence County on June 21, 2017.
Located within the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, R-74, a gravel route, passes the former Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp Newald which operated from 1933–1942, and crosses the Popple River, a designated Wisconsin “Wild River.”
Wisconsin's Rustic Roads system was created to preserve many of the state's scenic, lightly traveled country roads. Features of Rustic Roads include rugged terrain, native vegetation and wildlife, or open areas with agricultural vistas.
Please don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission. © All rights reserved.
In the third week of daily protests against Republican Governor Scott Wallker's attack on the middle class, a crowd of 70,000 Wisconsin citizens gathered in Madison, Wisconsin. Firefighters, police, electricians, teachers, nurses, friends and neighbors marched in solidarity. Filmmaker Michael Moore joined us. The crowd was somewhat smaller than last week as many were working in districts throughout the state to gather recall petitions against 8 Republican Senators.
My little sister Margaret Flew in from Massachusetts to compete in the Iron Man Wisconsin triathalon.
2.4 mile swim, 112 miles on the bike, 26.2 mile run. KICK ASS!
This large wild Russian Olive tree caught my eye as it's contrasting silvery leaves stood out against the amber autumn limbs of the surrounding maples. If you look closly to the far left there is a gravestone present. There was an old cemetery beyond those trees that I later came across and studied some of the markers with the earliest ledgible stone having a date back to 1820. Some of the gravetones where so worn that I'm sure the dates must have gone back even further.
Franklin, Wisconsin