Orton Park Historic District

About this property

The Orton Park Historic District is a residential historic district on the near east side of Madison, Wisconsin. The district is centered on Orton Park, the first public park in Madison, and includes 56 houses facing or near to the park. The first houses in the area were built in the 1850s during a local housing boom; however, after the Panic of 1857 ended the boom, development in the area halted. When Orton Park was developed out of a former cemetery in the 1880s, more houses were built near the park; construction in the district continued through the 1950s. Many houses in the district were designed in the Queen Anne, Prairie School, and Craftsman styles, and local architects Claude and Starck designed at least seven houses in the district. The district also includes examples of Greek Revival, Italianate, and Colonial Revival architecture. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 31, 1988. Three houses in the district, the Bascom B. Clarke House, the Curtis-Kittleson House and the George A. Lougee House are listed individually on the National Register, as is Orton Park itself. These are good examples of different architecture styles within the district, in roughly the order built. The John and Harriet Martin house at 1033 Spaight St. is a 2.5-story Italianate-styled house built in 1855. The shallow hip roof and double brackets supporting the eaves are typical of the style. This example has short windows tucked into the frieze and is clad in local sandstone. The dormers were added after 1947 and the entry porch is a later replacement for the original wraparound veranda. John Martin was a businessman who moved from Cincinnati to co-publish the Madison Patriot. The William Collinson house at 1139 Rutledge St is a 2-story cottage built in 1856. Its style is Greek Revival, which is seen in the rather low-pitched roof, the cornice returns, and the lack of decoration in the window sills and lintels. The entry porch is fancier than typical Greek Revival - perhaps more in the direction of Eastlake. The structure of the older part of the house is hewn timbers, whereas newer parts are balloon framed. From 1892 to 1969 the family of Edward Appleby, an accountant at Fuller and Johnson, lived here. The Curtis-Kittleson House at 1102 Spaight Street is a 2.5-story mansion built in 1901. Designed by Gordon and Panauck, it displays most of the features of Queen Anne style: an asymmetric façade with a corner tower and wraparound porch, a complex roof, tall chimneys, and stained glass windows. The walls are a pink-orange brick. The Palladian window in the gable end and the columns of the porch are drawn from Neoclassical style - common in later Queen Annes. The house was built for Dexter Curtis, whose father sold saddlery equipment, but who succeeded on his own trading agricultural implements.

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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.

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