Letter from the President
Spring 2006
Early this year, city preservation planner Kitty Rankin gave us the good news that progress is being made on getting some more plaques on many of the city's official landmark buildings. For years the city has been behind in putting plaques on landmarks, with only about 90 plaques for the approximately 165 locally-designated buildings.
In January, Rankin was ordering plaques for 15 buildings, for likely installation this spring mostly downtown. Even more promising, thanks in part to volunteer help by Trust board member Jason Tish over the past year, draft text has been written for all the remaining plaque-less buildings, about 60 in all. After the current batch of 15, Rankin said buildings will receive plaques in the order that they were designated landmarks.
Thankfully, the city planning department intends to get an updated list of landmarks on its Web site, including photos and a short description. As of mid-February, the city still had posted an outdated list of landmarks at
http://www.ci.madison.wi.us/planning/hist.html
missing approximately 23 landmarks.
It's important that this be updated soon. An example of an official local landmark not listed on the city's Web site: Holy Redeemer School, 142 W. Johnson Street. Holy Redeemer Church next door is listed (designated 1983), but the school (designated 1999) is not. This is important as developers salivate over the large parcel of land behind the school and between the school and State Street. Buildings at the corner of State, Henry and Johnson are rapidly becoming vacant (Stillwaters, Radio Shack, and the cute spot at 309 N. Henry that once housed the Red & White hamburger stand, then the Madison Bagel Co and most recently, "Burger Joint").
Word on the street is that a "large corporation" has been eyeing this corner. And, in a Wisconsin State Journal story in late December about where the Catholic Diocese might locate a new cathedral to replace St. Raphael's, one priest said he preferred the Holy Redeemer site and recommended acquiring the land between Holy Redeemer and Henry Street. Sounds like the makings of a news story.
Any developer eyeing that property should keep in mind that the Holy Redeemer school is an important piece of Madison's history, and is indeed an official city landmark. Jason Tish has been instrumental in preparing for an improved landmark Web presence, taking photos of all the buildings and writing short descriptions.
Joe Lusson
President
Madison Trust for Historic Preservation
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