The Orton Park Historic District is a residential historic district on the near east side of

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...

. The district is centered on

Orton Park Orton Park is a public park located at 1100 Spaight Street in Madison, Wisconsin. History The land was designated as a public cemetery in 1846, the same year Madison was chartered as a village. Madison quickly outgrew the cemetery, and by the 185 ...

, the first public park in Madison, and includes 56 houses facing or near to the park. The first houses in the area were built in the 1850s during a local housing boom; however, after the

Panic of 1857 The Panic of 1857 was a financial crisis in the United States caused by the declining international economy and over-expansion of the domestic economy. Because of the invention of the telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission ...

ended the boom, development in the area halted. When Orton Park was developed out of a former cemetery in the 1880s, more houses were built near the park; construction in the district continued through the 1950s. Many houses in the district were designed in the Queen Anne,

Prairie School Prairie School is a late 19th and early 20th-century architectural style, most common in the Midwestern United States. The style is usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped i ...

, and

Craftsman Craftsman may refer to: A profession *Artisan, a skilled manual worker who makes items that may be functional or strictly decorative *Master craftsman, an artisan who has achieved such a standard that he may establish his own workshop and take o ...

styles, and local architects

Claude and Starck Claude and Starck was an architect, architectural firm in Madison, Wisconsin, at the turn of the twentieth century. The firm was a partnership of Louis W. Claude (1868–1951) and Edward F. Starck (1868–1947). Starck apprenticed with Edward Townse ...

designed at least seven houses in the district. The district also includes examples of

Greek Revival Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century It ...

, and

Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the arch ...

architecture. With The district was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on October 31, 1988. Three houses in the district, the

Bascom B. Clarke House The Bascom B. Clarke House in Madison, Wisconsin was built in 1899, designed in Queen Anne style with Gothic Revival details for Clarke, who founded the magazine ''American Thresherman''. In 1980 it was added to the National Register of Historic ...

, the Curtis-Kittleson House and the George A. Lougee House are listed individually on the National Register, as is Orton Park itself. These are good examples of different architecture styles within the district, in roughly the order built. * The John and Harriet Martin house at 1033 Spaight St. is a 2.5-story Italianate-styled house built in 1855. The shallow

hip roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downward to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope, with variants including Tented roof, tented roofs and others. Thus, a hipped roof has no gables or other ve ...

and double brackets supporting the

eaves The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural sty ...

are typical of the style. This example has short windows tucked into the

frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...

and is clad in local sandstone. The

dormers A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the usable spac ...

were added after 1947 and the entry porch is a later replacement for the original wraparound veranda. John Martin was a businessman who moved from

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

to co-publish the ''Madison Patriot''. * The William Collinson house at 1139 Rutledge St is a 2-story cottage built in 1856. Its style is Greek Revival, which is seen in the rather low-pitched roof, the cornice returns, and the lack of decoration in the window sills and lintels. The entry porch is fancier than typical Greek Revival - perhaps more in the direction of Eastlake. The structure of the older part of the house is hewn timbers, whereas newer parts are balloon framed. From 1892 to 1969 the family of Edward Appleby, an accountant at Fuller and Johnson, lived here. * The Curtis-Kittleson House at 1102 Spaight Street is a 2.5-story mansion built in 1901. Designed by Gordon and Panauck, it displays most of the features of Queen Anne style: an asymmetric façade with a corner tower and wraparound porch, a complex roof, tall chimneys, and stained glass windows. The walls are a pink-orange brick. The

Palladian window Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Republic of Venice, Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetr ...

in the gable end and the columns of the porch are drawn from Neoclassical style - common in later Queen Annes. The house was built for Dexter Curtis, whose father sold saddlery equipment, but who succeeded on his own trading agricultural implements. * The Wynne house at 1047 Rutledge Street is a 2-story house designed by Claude and Starck and built in 1905. The style is Prairie School, evident in the horizontal emphasis of the façade and the bands of windows. The stucco walls are also common for that style. Not typical of the style are the arch-topped windows, and the second gable peak behind and parallel to the front one. Frank Wynne was an attorney and real estate developer. * The Miller house at 1125 Rutledge Street is another house designed by Claude and Starck - this one built in 1907. Its style is

Tudor Revival Tudor Revival architecture, also known as mock Tudor in the UK, first manifested in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture, in rea ...

, with the typical steep roof and the common false half-timbering in the second story, but as is common with Claude and Stark, the Revival style is leavened with modern touches: the

half-timbering Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs. If the struc ...

is all vertical lines rather than more interesting shapes; the windows are broad and convenient; the no-drama chimneys do not dominate the façade. And the first floor is clad in horizontal

board and batten A batten is most commonly a strip of solid material, historically wood but can also be of plastic, metal, or fiberglass. Battens are variously used in construction, sailing, and other fields. In the lighting industry, battens refer to linea ...

- an unusual choice. George Miller was president of the G.P. Miller Lumber Company. * The Lougee house at 620 S. Ingersoll is a 2-story Prairie Style house designed by Claude and Starck and built in 1907. The design shows a strong horizontal emphasis in the belt course and the broad eaves. The exterior is stucco and the roof is covered in slate. The house resembles Frank Lloyd Wright's Harley Bradley house in

Kankakee, Illinois Kankakee ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Kankakee County, Illinois, United States. Located on the Kankakee River, as of 2020, the city's population was 24,052. Kankakee is a principal city of the Kankakee-Bourbonnais-Bradley, IL MSA, Kan ...

. George Lougee was a hotelier, operating the Park Hotel and University Club in Madison and the

Palmer House Palmer House may refer to: In the United Kingdom * Palmer House, Great Torrington, an 18th-century house in Devon In the United States Items in this section are alphabetized by state, then city. * Palmer House (Blackton, Arkansas), listed on th ...

in Chicago. * The Mason house at 1115 Rutledge Street is a 2.5-story house designed by Claude and Starck and built in 1913. Its massing is Prairie Style (hip roof, broad windows, strong horizontal lines), but the details are Colonial Revival (the pediments in the dormers, the corner

quoins Quoins ( or ) are masonry blocks at the corner of a wall. Some are structural, providing strength for a wall made with inferior stone or rubble, while others merely add aesthetic detail to a corner. According to one 19th-century encyclopedia, ...

, the columns framing the front door, the keystone ornament above windows, and the denticulated cornice under the eaves. George Mason was president of the Mason Donaldson Lumber Company.

References

External links

{{commons category-inline Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin National Register of Historic Places in Madison, Wisconsin