Three Sandstone Italianates in Madison, WI

The Gilman House, 1855 Photo: Shihmei Barger

The Fuller-Bashford House, 1856 Photo: Richard Hurd

The Kendall House, 1855 Photo: Shihmei Barger

 

These three Italianates form a natural group. They were all built around the same time and in the same neighborhood, Madison's Mansion Hill District, by the city's wealthy. They are all built of the same sandstone and have similar detailing; thus, they represent a good window on the styling of one particular area at a specific time. Architect August Kutzbock, who has designed several houses in earlier posts probably had a hand in designing all three. These houses are notable for their simplicity of ornamentation and their dependence on sandstone and its texture for effect, rather than elaboration of moldings and variation of elements. They serve as a good contrast of Kutzbock's more flamboyant designs for the Keenan and Pierce houses nearby.

 

The Gilman house follows the irregular plan, odd as it may seem. It lacks the tower, which is not an uncommon practice, and the area that should be slightly recessed for the tower's base is flush with the projecting pavilion; elongating the design. It was built in 1855 for Julius White, but its real claim to fame is that it housed the governors of Wisconsin from 1883 to 1950. The house has segmented arched windows and spare sandstone window surrounds; the greatest variation is the pairing of windows on the right of the façade which top a box window. The entablature is narrow and the brackets are an interesting feature in that they strive to give an impression of width rather than height. The porch on this house is not original.

 

The Fuller-Bashford house also follows the irregular plan, but features the tower, which is apparently a rarity in Madison. Perhaps the sunny campanile didn't appeal to the settlers in the snowy north. It was built in 1856-7 for Robet Bashford, an attorney and mayor; the Fullers were railroad tycoons who bought it in 1865. This is one of the more sophisticated houses; it features eared window surrounds and paired tombstone windows (also with eared moldings) in the projecting pavilion. The cornice is spare, featuring no brackets but only a run of dentil molding. Unlike most of the houses we have seen, this tower does not feature arched windows on the top story, but simply repeats the windows of the other floors, an oddity. There is an odd aspect to the windows; the second floor windows appear a bit too long. Often architects tried to vary the window height; in general the windows get smaller as one moves up the façade. In this house, however, they look to be the same size regardless. The rather ghastly porch is not original to the house, although I don't know if it originally had one.

 

The Kendall house follows the symmetrical plan, with a mansard roof added in 1873. Originally it had a shallow hip roof with a cupola. It was built for J. E. Kendall, a banker, in 1855. This house features shallow pedimented cornices above the tall windows and the front door has ear moldings. This house seems to have been jazzed up with a box window and cornice, which look from their size and elaboration to be Second Empire additions, although there's a possibility they could be original.

 

Taken separately, these houses are not particularly impressive. As a group, however, they provide interesting information about the simple and elegant tastes of Madison's early wealthy families and about the early parts of Kutzbock's career before he embraced the complexity of Rundbogenstil. They serve as the perfect foil for the later houses of how a few years and the growth of a city could radically change the freedom with which people personalized their homes.

The George Keenan House, Madison, WI

The George Keenan House, Madison, WI 1858 Shihmei Barger

Photo: Richard Hurd

Before you ask, let me say it: the mansard roof is a later addition of 1870. The house was originally built as an Italianate and seems to have an intact Italianate façade; the roof was simply altered to keep up with the Second Empire fashion. When looking at it, you just have to imagine the low hip roof that originally would have crowned it. There might also have been a cupola akin to the Pierce house. The reason I decided to post this house, which is a block from the Pierce house, is that it also manifests the marriage of Italianate and Rundbogenstil. The house was built in 1858 for Napoleon Van Slyke (there's a name!) who never lived in it. It is named after a famous surgeon who lived here in the early 20th century. The designer was August Kutzbock, the architect responsible for Madison's collection of Rundbogenstil designs. Unlike the wooden John Hill house and the sandstone Pierce house, this house is constructed of Milwaukee cream brick, a specialty of Wisconsin, and follows the symmetrical plan. In fact, aside from the sandstone highlights, the entire house, even the decorative balconies and cornice, is constructed of brick. The projection of the central front bay is common to this type, as we have seen. It might have originally had a gable above it. The paired tombstone windows are by now a familiar feature of Italianate design as is the grouping of the first floor windows by a common cornice. It somewhat resembles the window treatment of the Reddick house. Another telltale Italianate feature is the wooden awning that crowns the small door on the façade of the ell to the right of the house.

The house manifests Rundbogenstil in its cornice and impressive porches. The brick cornice is supported by a series of brick brackets that resemble the corbels and machicolations of Medieval castle architecture. This is set over a simple fringe of inverted crenellations that almost resemble dentils. The cornice switches to a simple dentilled design on the projecting section, which might be a later addition. The windows in classic Rundbogenstil manner are rounded, feature a Gothicized Venetian tracery, and are surrounded by sandstone hood moldings and capitals featuring inverted crenellations. The first floor windows have a similar treatment are on a slight projection crowned by a cornice. The central bay has bricks laid in a blind flat topped trefoil arch and a traditionally traceried window. The house has two impressive Romanesque porches. Each features sandstone turrets at the corners, setting off an undulating brick balustrade, an interesting design. The brick is laid so that projections resemble an odd abstraction of inverted crenellations. While the Pierce house seems to draw inspiration from Romanesque church architecture, the Keenan house definitely has a castle-like feeling, demonstrating that the same architect can draw from two very different idioms for the same type of house. Perhaps there was simply a desire to distinguish. The Keenan house, with its mansard that is actually quite well integrated and complementary to Kutzbock's design, is a unique testimony to Kutzbock's versatility.

The McDonnell-Pierce House, Madison, WI

The McDonell-Pierce House, Madison, WI 1857 Photo: Wikimedia

Photo Shihmei Barger

Continuing with the exploration of Rundbogenstil Italianate, this is probably the prime example I can think of and one of the most beautiful. This house in Madison, WI was built for Alexander McDonnell, the contractor for the state capitol designed in a similar Rundbogenstil manner; the architects were August Kutzbock and Samuel Donnel. Kutzbock, a German immigrant, might have inspired the adoption of Rundbogenstil design in this house, reflecting his Germanic past. Other buildings designed by him use this same type of ornamentation, and it is definitely a vernacular peculiarity of the Madison area. The house is situated in what was once one of Madison's most elegant neighborhoods, the aptly named Mansion Hill neighborhood. Later the house was owned by George Pierce an executive, after whose death it became like many great houses, a boarding house. Currently it is a boutique hotel, the Mansion Hill Inn, and it is beautifully preserved.

The house is a tour de force of design and elaboration. The house follows the pavilioned plan and is faced with Prairie du Chene sandstone from Wisconsin. Unlike some of the sandstone we have seen, this type is relatively monotonous in color and lack of veining. The house follows many of the principles of Rundbogenstil. The cornice and entablature are heavily layered. Beneath the cornice is a run of dentils, followed by paired inverted crenellations, a broad empty band, and finally a straight run of inverted crenellations. All the variety allows the cornice to be complex and avoid monotony. At the corners of the gables are large stone posts that hang off the walls, featuring floral ornaments at the top and bottom. This type of hanging post at a corner is a hallmark of sophisticated Rundbogenstil. All the windows feature Venetian tracery. The first floor consists primarily of bay windows, while the second floor has paired windows linked by a tall arched with a carved hood molding. The ends of the hood mold feature, again, paired inverted crenellations. The bay windows are uneven, the center window being double, the sides single; the employment of the Venetian tracery in the sides of the bay window is somewhat odd with the circle included over the single window. Raised stone quoins that link to a band in the entablature complete the effect. Being built on a slope, half of the house's basement is exposed, and the architect picked an odd trefoil motif for the windows and carving of this section, livening up what is otherwise the least elaborate section of most houses. The side facades also feature oddly elliptical quatrefoil windows in the gables.

Particularly Italianate about this house besides the massing and effect is the cupola. The cupola is elaborate, as many Midwestern cupolas are; it is unevenly octagonal and features almost Gothic strapwork surrounding the windows. The left side of the house features an elaborate two story iron porch, which echoes the iron porch in the center of the façade around the door and the railings over the bay windows. The railings and side porch are particularly thin and delicate in contrast to the heaviness of the palm columns and vines on the front porch. The painting of the porches and ironwork greenish blue is reflective of the historical coloration; the black color we associate with it today has come from darkening paint whose effect was continued by painting it black in subsequent repaintings. The door is flanked by niches, is arched, has vegetal carving in the spandrels, and features red glass cut to clear in the transom, displaying the richness of the design. The following images by various photographers (the house is certainly photogenic) illustrate some details.

 Photo: Jennifer Tharp

 

 Photo: Richard Hurd

 

Photo: Jennifer Tharp

Enlargement of Wikimedia photo above.

 

Photo: Jennifer Tharp

 

 Photos of the interior by Shihmei Barger.