MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin Historical Society announces the listing of the Mackenzie House in the National Register of Historic Places on August 1, 2025. The building was originally constructed in 1966 in Madison, Dane County.
The Mackenzie House is in a small residential neighborhood surrounded by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum. The single-family residence was constructed in 1966 and designed by the Madison architectural firm of (Ronald G.) Bowen and (Henry) Kanazawa. Their colleague, Rolland H. Williamson, may have been the principal designer. In 1985, an addition by Madison architect James M. Sharpe was seamlessly constructed on the side elevation.
The Mackenzie House is a distinctive example of the Modern Movement in the mid-20th century, representing a subtype of the Contemporary style known as the Flat-Roof. The style borrowed a streamlined aesthetic of Bauhaus modernists such as Mies van der Rohe and combined it with Frank Lloyd Wright’s Usonian organic architecture. This influence is present in the main block of the Mackenzie House with post-and-beam design, floor-to-ceiling fixed windows flanked by floor-to-ceiling narrow louvered vents, and wood siding. The house appears to sit on a floating plane due to recessed clerestory basement windows, and the wing and the addition cantilevers slightly over the basement story. Character-defining features include an asymmetrical front façade, lack of ornamentation, a long one-story form, and flat-roof.
The Mackenzie House is a private home and is not open to the public. Please respect the privacy of the property owner.
Additional information for the Mackenzie House is available at: https://wisconsinhistory.org/Records/NationalRegister/NR2830
To learn more about the State and National Register programs in Wisconsin, visit: https://wisconsinhistory.org/hp/register/
About the 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.
