MADISON TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION

MADISON'S WESTMORLAND NEIGHBORHOOD

I'd guess most cities have their own historic preservation societies and Madison is no exception. Madison's organization the Madison Trust for Historic Preservation began in 1974 as a reaction to two events:

the demolition of the William F. Vilas home on Mansion Hill to make way for a commercial office building and the demolition of Hillside Farm on University Avenue that was replaced by a very important Burger King.

The demolition of Hillside Farm made it to national significance when New York Times architecture critic, Ada Louise Huxtable, included it in an article on the civic need of the importance of respecting and maintaining a city's historic heritage over the city's need for urban renewal.

I joined the Trust's mailing list when I came across their booth at a local street fair and ever since I've received notices about their events and schedules.

What I've found out is that on almost a weekly basis they conduct tours of significant areas of the city of historically important structures in the Madison metropolitan area. They charge $10 a person per tour. My schedule was hard to dovetail with most of their tours. I was either in New York our committed to other Madison obligations but I finally found a tour I could go to.

There's an area on Madison's west side that developed with fits and starts making it a an architectural history lesson stretching from the 1860's through the 1950's.

Westmorland is easily identifiable off of Mineral Point Road with its original stone and metal entrance that hails entrance to the neighborhood via a classic boulevard.

The area borders on one of Madison's beautiful golf courses, Glenway Golf Course providing a vista of rolling fairways of verdant green. The tour is a walking tour that lasts about ninety minutes
Once the tour begins you need to make sure you've got on some decent shoes and you've made a pit stop. There aren't any pee breaks along the tour.

We all met at a corner across from the Village Bar, a local hangout for the community and the 19th hole for the golfers from Glenway Golf Course.

The generational mix of the people who had signed up for the tour was a bit disappointing. I don't remember seeing a single walker under the age of fifty. I'd hoped an interest in the architectural history of the area would go beyond those looking behind and encompass more of those looking ahead.

Westmorland's history is significant for its niche, a niche that isn't about grandeur and opulence but instead about its common man appeal.

Straight through from the 1860's to the late 1920's the area remained predominately farmland but with the growth of Madison in a westward direction Westmorland took off. The Backus house was one of the first major residences to take root in the area. It was built for a local banker and remains one of the grander homes in the area. I have no idea of how many owners have inhabited the house but like so many homes of significance the house remains referred to under the name of its original owner.

A decade later and the character of the neighborhood began to emerge. Westmorland has a collection of Sears homes.

Sears provided a collection of plans you could choose from. Once you chose a plan Sears did the rest loading ever piece of lumber, stone and brick you'd need and sent it off for you to put together

These homes featured a good deal of curb appeal and interior layouts with that thirties appeal of structured rooms with specific uses.

All this was offered at an affordable price for a middle class market.

The thirties produced a boon in construction from the quaint to an influx of homes designed by the famous and popular all trying to produce homes for those with a more modest income.

Starting out as a single level home built in a Bauhaus brutalistic style this home was recently enlarged with a second story in the same style.

Across the street is probably Westmorland's most famous house,

The Jacobs House I built in 1937 by Frank Lloyd Wright. An L-shaped home, it was the first of Wright's Usonian homes designed for middle-income families

When you walk along the side of the lot the house sits on you can see how Wright focused the home to the natural expanse of the backyard enhancing the privacy of the home and providing the owners with a very bucolic view in opposition to its suburban setting

The front of the house has a hidden entry with strong horizontal planking providing a buffer to the street. I was lucky enough to get into the home years ago when a former student and her family owned the home. Their family grew and the home was no longer able to accommodate their family. It's the only reason I can come up with for why they sold it and moved to a less significant home.

With the onset of World War II construction died down until after the war when in the late forties and early fifties another building surge took hold.

A part of this surge was another foray into the area of prefab homes, the Lustron home.

These homes came as a kit of ceramic tiles and could supposedly be put together in a day complete with appliances.

The architectural history of Madison is evident throughout its many significant neighborhoods and I intend to sign up for additional tours with The Madison Trust for Historic Preservation because everyone is welcome in Madison.

THE GALLERY

State Street
Mark Golbach, photographer
All rights reserved, www.markgolbach.com
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NY NOW AUGUST 2017

A SHOW THAT NEEDS TO DO SOME RETHINKING

Twice a year the Javits hosts NY Now, an event I still refer to as the gift fair. When we opened our shop in a little town in the Upper Catskills the gift fair was the first thing we went to, to stock our shop and fill out our inventory beyond the vintage and antique pieces we pulled from our existing collection.

We developed a cast of favorite vendors, ones with a similar aesthetic to our own and ones that fit into the country lifestyle we were trying to appeal to.

Things changed when we moved to Madison and opened our store on a hidden street of permanently parked cars in a little house with what we thought was great potential.

The aesthetic changed with a slightly more urban industrial look and the vendors at the fair drifted toward our new look.

Once we finally moved away from retail and focused on our interior design work the way we pounded the carpeted aisles of the fair changed to a broader hide and seek with an emphasis on current clients needs for furnishings and accessories but narrowed away from the gifty aisles were we had previously picked out scented candles and holiday fare.

For many years this worked well for us but as other shows seemed to find themselves better suited to shows like ICFF and the Architectural Digest show the vendors with an emphasis on faux fur covered lounge chairs and light fixtures made from hand-blown glass seemed to disappear.

Now the aisles listed as "Home" had a higher percentage of jewelers and felt hats than silver trays and concrete cocktail tables.
Where it took several days to do a complete walk-through of the show in our days of retail purchasing I could now reduce my designated tour time to about a three-hour afternoon. My feet were relieved but my need for a satiated design tour was woefully in need of a pick me up.

What few things I did find were real pearls in a sea of grains of sand.

Bunakara was one of those pearls. There beautiful collection of linens and ticking was rich in hand and subtle in color

I loved their approach to upholstery not even knowing if this was something they offered or were only using for display. If this use of fabric on furniture isn't something they offer I'm stealing the idea and taking off with it

A vendor I hadn't seen before, Roberta Schilling, set up a fantastic booth sprinkled with inventive sofas, lamps and casegoods. They were actually selling off the floor that meant on the day I came near the end of the show almost everything had a sold sign on it

including this great upholstered cocktail table with an attached tray that moved along a track you could slide from side to side

I was surprised to see Mr. Brown and Julian Chichester setting up a booth at the fair. Several of the vendors that have space at 200 Lex had forgone the show and instead held events in their showrooms during NY Now. Since Mr. Brown and Julian Chichester have a showroom there at The New York Design Center I was surprised to see them invest the money in space at NY Now.

I did love this table but I just don't have a client in need right now.

The South came to play and it was well appreciated. I got sidetracked on an aisle in the gift section I hadn't planned on walking down after I had given myself a break for lunch. On my way back out onto the exhibit floor and on to the Home sections I got lucky. One of my favorite New York restaurants is Freemans, a hidden treasure down in the Bowery. This booth had the same appeal. It would have been a definite buy if we were still in the retail business and if I could ever find their business card so I could identify them. If anyone knows the name of this candle vendor I'd love to know who they are. They also have a book out on their store and I'd at the least buy that.

There were still some of my favorites setting up shop. These reproductions of all things vintage are well crafted and for a globe and travel fanatic it required a stop and a drool.

Another favorite and a vendor who probably does very well at the show is V Rugs & Home. I've highlighted them on almost every summary of past shows that I've done and this year is no different. Their line of textiles, hassocks and pillows are impeccable.

New finds are harder and harder to come by but this line of resin tableware was real treat. I've not had many clients who have wanted me to go as far as purchasing their tabletop but if I ever get the opportunity Tina Frey Designs will be at the top of my list.

Then sometimes it's not just the product but it's the display that draws me in. Skeem Design sells matches. I have no idea if they can make a living by selling matches but I really loved the way they set fire to their display.

On the down side there wasn't a vendor there without a mile of shagreen on display. There were small boxes, side tables, credenzas and more. There was so much shagreen I pitied the stingrays that must be nearing extinction due to all the use of their skins on everything that you could glue a hide to

I'm sure I'll be NY Now next February when the next show loads in but I do hope that at least the labeling of sections at the show will be a little more honest and I won't have to waste my time wearing out my sole leather going down aisles marked "Home" but filled with anything but home.
THE GALLERY

A Stingray and Sailboat in North Sound
David Doubilet, photographer
Represented by Photoby

2017 SUN PRAIRIE CORN FESTIVAL

LET THEM EAT CORN

1953 was the first year Sun Prairie held its corn festival. I can't pinpoint the first year my parents took us but it was pretty early on. I do remember is was after the festival had moved to Angell Park, next to the roar of the track where the midget racecar events are held.

The venue hasn't changed over the years and this year wasn't any different although the days of free corn have long since been replaced. I had hoped to hit the dirt floor of Angell Park earlier during the run of the festival but didn't end up making it until the last few hours of the last day of the event.

The whole eating frenzy is a four-day festival starting on Thursday with a parade and running through to Sunday

when the corn steamers are closed down and the conveyer hoisting the dead husks into a dumpster has stopped moving.

The corn, that was available all during the event when I went as a kid with my parents and then as a teenager when I copped the keys and drove out with friends, was now only available on the last two days and then only from noon till seven.

Still most of the events charm remained with the ears of corn handed out at two bucks an ear or seven dollars for a tote that could be filled with a minimum of a half dozen golden cobs of sweet, sweet corn.

Once you've purchased your ear or tote you get the opportunity to have your corn rolled in huge tubs of salted butter.

Then, your hands glistening with real butter, you make your way to the salt trees in the hopes that your golden treasure won't slip away before those beautiful kernels can make it to your salivating mouth.

Here's a tip: The corn is steamed in the way we always make our corn at home and I think this is the only way to do corn. You take your corn leaving it in the husk and dump it on the middle shelf of your oven that you've cranked up to maximum heat. You don't pre-wet it, you don't open the husk, you just leave it there for twenty minutes. Then with asbestos mitts on both hands you pull the corn out of the oven, strip off the husks and dump the steaming cobs into basket. Keeping the corn in the husk allows the juice and sweetness to stay securely intact without drying out the corn. It always amazed me the number of people in the supermarket who rip off the husks right in the store and then go home with there naked ears and either boil the corn or roast it to a dry and tasteless mush.

The lines for the totes can stretch for blocks but when I finally made it to the fair it was close to six on the last day and the line was only a twenty to twenty-five minute wait.

It was enough to make think twice but after I saw one guy with a baby strapped to his chest go through the line twice and devour every ear they had piled into his cardboard dish I figure I could at least grab a single ear.

I took my ear by its unwrapped husk, rolled and salted it and then since I went by myself I grabbed a space on a concrete pylon big enough for my butt out of the way of most of the other eaters. The pylon was just outside the midget racetrack.

The roar of the racecars overpowered any other sounds. The only thing I could hear was the internal crunch of corn as I bit into it. The one thing I hadn't counted on or remembered was the amount of mud these cars can throw around. Even with a fifteen-foot fence covered with a tarp running the length of the oval I still managed to get pelted with mud balls as the cars skidded around on the other side of the barrier.

Unfortunately, the single ear of corn only wetted my appetite. Since by that time it was close to closing for the concessions a church group with their own tent was hawking a big discount. They were pushing root beer floats for two bucks and cookies a half-dozen for a dollar.

In addition to the races and the corn the other draw has always been the midway.

As a kid I wasn't much interested in the rides especially the ones that spin. I could never understand the thrill of vomiting on a friend or stranger. As an adult the feeling hasn't changed but there's such visual beauty in a midway and that was one of the reasons I wanted to go to the fair in the first place.

Once I finished my corn and root beer float I made my way past the kiddie blow-up jungle and then into the midway

where you could buy for ride tickets if you were so inclined

I would have opted for the games where my chances of actually walking away with something more than a stomachache had better odds.

Although what one is supposed to do with giant purple hippo bets me

And I have to admit that the midway does provide more than one way to torture your stomach and your teeth. There's always enough sugar in candy apples and cotton candy to make a whole segment of the carnival going population enrich all the local dentists.

And what would a festival be without the opportunity to purchase bubble blowing guns, paper umbrellas and the current ubiquitous spinner.

I think I came away having paced myself to a degree that my stomach didn't hate me, my teeth didn't squeak with sugar shock and my eyes got to delight in the beauty of a great Midwest tradition.

















THE GALLERY

Albino Sword Swallower at a Carnival, 1970
Diane Arbus, photographer
Represented by Gagosian Gallery