Commons, John R., House
About this property
The John and Nell Commons House is a large hilltop bungalow built in 1913 in Madison, Wisconsin, from which UW professor John R. Commons wrote influential books on economics, helped craft Progressive public policy, and mentored a generation of economists. The house itself was designed by Cora Tuttle - not a formally trained architect, but the first woman to practice architecture in Madison. In 1985 the house was added to the National Register of Historic Places. John R. Commons was born in 1863 in Hollansburg, Ohio. Richard T. Ely brought him to the UW in 1904 to teach and to edit the 11-volume Documentary History of American Industrial Society. "He was among the first economists to move away from the traditional laissez-faire economic thinking; and he pioneered in the progressive era concept that government should assume a positive role in furthering the cause of reform..." This was the era of Progressive social legislation, in which Wisconsin under Governor LaFollette was a leader. John Commons contributed to that legislation, helping draft the 1905 Wisconsin Civil Service Law, which specified uniform civil service exams; the 1907 Public Utilities Law; the 1911 Industrial Commission Law which effected changes in worker safety, child labor, minimum wages, and labor disputes; and the 1924 Unemployment Insurance Plan for the Chicago clothing market. During the Great Depression, Common's grad students helped plan and administer New Deal legislation like the Social Security Act. Commons is one of several people credited with originating the "Wisconsin Idea," in which university faculty serve as advisors to state government. At one point a representative of business called Dr. Commons "the most dangerous man in Wisconsin," but Commons himself later observed, "Yet what I was always trying to do in my academic way, was to save Wisconsin and the nation from politics, socialism, or anarchism, in dealing with the momentous conflict of 'capital and labor.'" In 1909 and 1910 John and his wife Ella bought about seven acres of farmland on a hilltop west of Madison. They had Cora Tuttle design a large bungalow for the hilltop. The designer Cora Tuttle had been born in 1864 in Evansville, Wisconsin. Widowed in 1906, she moved with her sons to Prescott, Arizona. There in the southwest she was exposed to the bungalow, a then-modern and convenient style of house that had developed in California. The bungalow didn't reach Madison until Cora and her family returned with the idea in 1908. Cora had not formally studied architecture, but she had absorbed the ideas, and she designed a bungalow for her family, with help from her son Ray, then an engineering student at the UW. Their house was built in 1909, and still stands at 1206 Grant Street. She went on to design other bungalows around Madison. Though unlicensed and not formally trained in architecture, Cora Tuttle is the first woman known to practice architectural design in Wisconsin.
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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.
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Questions about this property
When was Commons, John R., House listed on the National Register?
Commons, John R., House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 14, 1985.
What type of historic resource is Commons, John R., House?
Commons, John R., House is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Commons, John R., House?
The period of significance for Commons, John R., House is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near Commons, John R., House?
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