Wisconsin Historical Society: Placed the Sylvan Avenue-Ridge Road Historic District on the State Register of Historic Places

Contact: Kara O’Keeffe, Wisconsin Historical Society
kara.okeeffe@wisconsinhistory.org

The Wisconsin Historical Society placed the Sylvan Avenue-Ridge Road Historic District (Madison, Dane County) on the State Register of Historic Places on August 18, 2017.

The Sylvan Avenue-Ridge Road Historic District contains one of Madison’s earliest concentrations of single family houses that display modern design principles. Most of these modern houses are the work of prominent local architects, they were built between 1935 and 1965, and they include a notable group of International Style houses designed by the important local architectural firm of Beatty & Strang and others, and an equally notable group of later Contemporary Style houses that include important works by prominent Madison architects Herb Fritz, Jr. and William V. Kaeser. The district also contains two large and highly intact examples of the Period Revival styles, which date from the early development of the neighborhood.

The 1907 Dutch Colonial Revival house is an early example of the side gabled subtype, while the 1926 Tudor Revival stands apart from other neighborhood examples in scale and was most likely the work of its architect owner, John Knudsen. These two good and highly intact examples of the Period Revival styles help tell the early history of the neighborhood; however, the district is set apart from the larger neighborhood as a highly intact ensemble of mostly architect-designed late 1930s, 1940s, and early 1950s single family residences. The district is clearly visually distinct from the surrounding residential neighborhood and it contains individual buildings of considerable architectural merit. The buildings in the district are especially notable within their local context for being excellent examples of the various facets of the Modern Movements styles.

The State Register is Wisconsin’s official list of state properties determined to be significant to Wisconsin’s heritage. The State Historic Preservation Office at the Wisconsin Historical Society administers both the State Register and National Register in Wisconsin.

To learn more about the State and National Register programs in Wisconsin, visit www.wisconsinhistory.org.

About Wisconsin Historical Society: The Wisconsin Historical Society, founded in 1846, ranks as one of the largest, most active and most diversified state historical societies in the nation. As both a state agency and a private membership organization, its mission is to help people connect to the past by collecting, preserving and sharing stories. The Wisconsin Historical Society serves millions of people every year through a wide range of sites, programs and services. For more information, visit wisconsinhistory.org.

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