Bellevue Apartment Building
About this property
The Bellevue Apartment Building is an upscale early apartment building located just south of the capitol in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was completed in 1914 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 13, 1987. Up to the 1900s the neighborhood south of the capitol was one of the poshest in Madison, with grand houses and mansions looking out over Lake Monona. As the capitol and businesses expanded, large office buildings began to replace the homes nearby, and more housing was needed for white collar workers. In response to these needs, a boom in apartment buildings started around 1910. One of the earliest and finest was the Bellevue Apartments, built 1913-14. The Bellevue was designed and built by Charles E. Marks, a local builder. The building is four stories tall on a raised basement, all clad in red brick. The general rectangular shape is broken by full-height bays. A pressed-metal cornice circles the top of the building and short stout chimneys rise from the roof. Inside, the building originally had 36 apartments, trimmed in generous Craftsman-style woodwork, including moldings and picture rails. Each apartment also had a brick fireplace with a wooden mantel, a built-in cabinet with leaded glass doors from which a bed could originally be pulled out. Each apartment had a five by ten foot screened sun porch in its bay. They have since been closed in with permanent glass. The building had many features that were progressive at the time: an electric passenger elevator, a central vacuum system, iceboxes cooled via ammonia brine by a central cooling system in the basement, private phones, and a garbage disposal. Though each apartment had a kitchenette, meals could be ordered from a kitchen in the basement, to be delivered to the room by a dumbwaiter. An early advertisement for the building suggested that all these services offered "relief from the servant problem." With all these features, the Bellevue was the most luxurious of the apartment buildings of its era. Marks aimed for a middle or upper-class renter and he succeeded. Early occupants included salesmen, businessmen like an executive of Madison Gas and Electric, government professionals and university professionals. Other than the Bellevue, Charles Marks mostly designed and built upscale homes in Madison. Surviving examples include his own 1902 American Foursquare-style house at 1913 Madison St, his own 1905 Shingle style home at 1815 Jefferson St, possibly the 1907 Dutch Colonial Revival Page house at 1706 Madison St, the 1909 American Foursquare Smith house at 15 N Prospect Ave, the 1911 Craftsman house at 2015 Jefferson St where Marks and his family lived from 1911 to 1918, the 1912 Craftsman Olson house at 1909 Adams St, the 1915 Arts and Crafts-style Dr. Charles and Caroline Mills house at 2119 Jefferson St, and the 1916 Prairie School Hool house at 2809 Columbia Road.
Location
Categories
Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Everything a full report reveals about Bellevue Apartment Building
This page lists Bellevue Apartment Building. A full Aubrey report for an address near it pulls together this listing alongside battlefield records, land patents, and every other historical record within a chosen radius:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Questions about this property
When was Bellevue Apartment Building listed on the National Register?
Bellevue Apartment Building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 13, 1987.
What type of historic resource is Bellevue Apartment Building?
Bellevue Apartment Building is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Bellevue Apartment Building?
The period of significance for Bellevue Apartment Building is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near Bellevue Apartment Building?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Bellevue Apartment Building will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
More in Dane County
Historic places, battles, and census history across Dane County.
Explore DaneCounty ›More historic places in Wisconsin
Browse all historic places in Wisconsin.
View Wisconsinhistoric sites ›Wisconsin history
Colonial settlement, territorial period, and statehood narrative.
Wisconsinhistory ›Research the history near this site
An Aubrey US report for an address near Bellevue Apartment Building will include this listing alongside battlefield records and other historical sources within your chosen radius.