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University Heights Walking Tour

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MarkR37
MarkR37
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4 out of 5
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Take a Walking Tour of My Neighborhood

  • May 7, 2001
  • Rated 4 of 5 by MarkR37 from Madison, Wisconsin
Take a Walking Tour of My Neighborhood

Twelve years ago my wife and I read about a series of walking tours being offered by the Madison Trust for Historic Preservation. We decided to take them all. The Saturday that University Heights was being toured about 30 people showed up and we walked around the little neighborhood for about an hour while Tim Heggland told us the details of 40 or so houses that he had researched in preparation to make the neighborhood a national landmark. We fell in love. I vowed at the end of the tour that we would move into the neighborhood as soon as we could afford it and being broke and without work at the time the goal seemed unreachable. Our fortunes, however took a turn for the better when we started a Futon Store that gave us the ability to buy a small house in the neighborhood we adored. Now, we take evening strolls around these fabulous houses which you are about to see. The streets in the neighborhood are all contorted and several loop around and up the hill to the top. Start at the corner of N. Prospect Ave and Old University and head up the hill. All the houses along this hill are fabulous but the cream of the crop are perched at the top of the hill. On your left will be Frank Lloyd Wright's wonderful "Airplane House" which was built on a design plan that resembles an airplane. Built in 1908, this is a masterpiece of Prairie architecture and Wright built the house just below the top of the hill so the building looks like it is part of the hill not plopped on top of it. The principle living rooms were placed on the second floor giving the owners unrivaled views of the city below. For perspective on just how revolutionary this design was, check out a house in your home town built at the same approximate time. It is an astonishing break with tradition. Right next door is the house I wish to live in next (I'm serious) named the Elliott House after the purchaser James Elliot who was a University Professor of Education. Built in 1910, this house was designed by George Maher who was a coworker of Wright's in Chicago. The hip roof with its wide overhang eaves are complemented perfectly by the slanted side walls of the house and the flared entrance way. Prairie architecture is known for its horizontal lines and the dark trim molding that separates the first and second story accentuates this aspect of the building. There are beautiful leaded art glass windows on the top floor as well as in the entrance door side windows. It is my favorite house in the city of Madison.

From journal Exploring Madison

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