Monona Terrace (officially the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center) is a

convention center A convention center (American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typica ...

on the shores of

Lake Monona Lake Monona is a freshwater drainage lake in Dane County, Wisconsin, surrounded on three sides by the city of Madison, Wisconsin, and on the south east side by the city of Monona, Wisconsin. It is the second-largest of a chain of four lakes along ...

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th ...

Controversy

Originally designed by Wisconsin native

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

, it was first proposed by Wright in 1938. The county board rejected the plan by a single vote. Wright would continue to seek support for the plan (and alter its design) until his death in 1959. For the next four decades, various proposals for a convention center on the Monona Terrace land would be considered and rejected. Several times, it appeared that supporters of the project would be able to secure the public financing to complete the project, but various forces (such as the start of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

) inevitably sidelined the plan. In 1990, Madison Mayor Paul Soglin resurrected Wright's proposal. Among the arguments against its construction, opponents argued that it was not a genuine Wright building, that the costs were too steep for the tax payers to bear and that the construction would adversely affect the environment, specifically destroying the view of Lake Monona from street level on the south side of the Capitol Square.

Milwaukee Sentinel The ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'' is a daily morning broadsheet printed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it is the primary newspaper. It is also the largest newspaper in the state of Wisconsin, where it is widely distributed. It is currentl ...

Madison struggles with Wright choice for Center
1992-08-12. Retrieved 2011-04-21.

Madison Votes Lean Toward Approval
1992-11-04. Retrieved 2011-04-21. Additionally, the site of the land stands on historic Ho-Chunk Nation burial mounds. The proposed construction was put to a public referendum in 1992 and it passed. Construction began two years later. In 1997, nearly sixty years after Wright's original conception, Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center opened its doors.

Location

Wisconsin State Capitol from Monona Terrace

Monona Terrace is located two blocks from the Wisconsin State Capitol building in downtown Madison. From the roof of Monona Terrace, one can see views of downtown Madison, including the Capitol and a panoramic view of Lake Monona.

Design

Wright made several alterations to the design of Monona Terrace during his lifetime. Although the exterior design is Wright's, the interior as executed was designed by former Wright apprentice Anthony Puttnam of

Taliesin Associated Architects Taliesin Associated Architects was an architectural firm founded by apprentices of Frank Lloyd Wright to carry on his architectural vision after his death in 1959. The firm disbanded in 2003. It was headquartered at Taliesin West in Scottsdale, A ...

Construction

The building was constructed by J.H. Findorff and Son Inc., a southern Wisconsin contractor .

Facilities

The facility hosts over 600 conventions, meetings and weddings each year that result in an average of $52 million in economic activity for the region. Monona Terrace also runs free community programs that serve approximately 56,000 people each year. Monona Terrace also offers guided tours, a gift shop, a rooftop cafe (warm weather months only), and serves as the home for some of the community's events including the national radio variety show Michael Feldman's Whad'Ya Know?, Dane Dances, Ironman Wisconsin, and U.S. Bank Eve.

Gallery

File:Monona1.jpg, File:Monona2.jpg, File:Monona3.jpg, File:Monona4.jpg, File:Monona5.jpg, File:Monona6.jpg, File:Monona7.jpg, File:Monona8.jpg,

References

External links

*
Photographed in HDR
{{Authority control Frank Lloyd Wright buildings Convention centers in Wisconsin Buildings and structures in Madison, Wisconsin Buildings and structures completed in 1997 Tourist attractions in Madison, Wisconsin 1997 establishments in Wisconsin Event venues established in 1997