2006 Preservation Awards
Gary Tipler
Gary Tipler
Three decades of professional and volunteer preservation work
(Here photographed giving a Mansion Hill tour of a program which he pioneered in the 1980s; one of the houses in the background was the birthplace of Thornton Wilder.)
Award: preservation advocacy
Historic preservation consultant Gary Tipler is more than a remarkable source of knowledge about Madison’s architectural history. For over three decades he has been an advocate for our community’s historic heritage.
Shortly after arriving in Madison for college, Gary served on a Madison Landmarks research committee, headed by Leigh Mollenhoff. At the university, he pursued a landscape architecture degree with an emphasis on historic preservation. During this time, along with friend and long-time Orpheum and Hilldale theaters manager Jerry Fladen, he researched and nominated numerous buildings in the Marquette Neighborhood and promoted the establishment of the Third Lake Ridge Historic District. He helped create the Lost Madison exhibit, and promoted the history of the Dayton Street Black Community.
In the late 1970s, the Madison Trust for Historic Preservation was ready to disband, believing that preservation work in Madison was completed. Gary attended the board's dissolution meeting, suggested that their mission was not over, and began a several-year stint on the board, serving several years as president.
In 1981, Gary helped develop a Trust project to buy and restore a worn out home at 1014 E. Gorham Street. This demonstration project was funded in part by a city grant and successfully restored the home and converted it to two condo units. Over 3,200 people toured the house and participated in workshops and programs to promote preservation.
Gary has researched and produced the booklets on the Mansion Hill, First Settlement and Willy Street neighborhoods. He bought and renovated the 1884 cream brick home at 511 E. Main Street, and more recently, the late-Victorian house at 807 Jenifer Street, the second earliest known house designed by Claude and Starck (1897).
Gary was the principal designer of the Alexander Company's West Rail Corridor office buildings along Regent Street and the Dayton townhouse condos. He also participated in the renovation of the Mansion Hill Inn, the Miller House on Dayton Street, Das Kronenberg Apartments, and many more. He has helped more than 60 building renovation projects obtain historic tax credits throughout the country.
In 2002, Gary helped establish the Friends of Historic Third Lake Ridge which has been instrumental in engaging neighborhood participation in the Williamson Street BUILD planning project and in saving the former Schlitz Brewing Company beer depot at 800 Williamson Street, now an attractive part of the Livingston condo project. With his natural interest in the past – both the people, events, and architecture – Gary is a dedicated advocate and educator. Our community is the richer for his presence.
home |
news & information |
events
photo gallery | walking tours |
preservation awards
membership |
about the trust
| contact us
Other 2006 Award Winners
William and Fryetta Burmeister Residence
American Tobacco Company Warehouses
Ellsworth Block
23 N. Pinckney Street
Adolf and Edna Kannenberg Residence
Maurice and Elanor Johnson Residence
