Property Record
601 Bay View
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Bayview Foundation Apartments |
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| Other Name: | Bayview Townhouses |
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| Reference Number: | 241072 |
| Location (Address): | 601 Bay View |
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| County: | Dane |
| City: | Madison |
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| Year Built: | 1971 |
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| Additions: | 1985 |
| Survey Date: | 2019 |
| Historic Use: | |
| Architectural Style: | Contemporary |
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| Wall Material: | Brick |
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| Other Buildings On Site: | Y |
| Demolished?: | No |
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| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | City of Madison, Wisconsin Underrepresented Communities Historic Resource Survey Report: Bayview Foundation was established in 1966 by a group of fifteen Madison residents to develop affordable housing on the Triangle in the Greenbush neighborhood. The Bayview Foundation Apartments, with a total of 102 units of Section 8 Project-Based housing in five buildings, were completed in 1971 at 601 Bay View on land where a significant portion of the Greenbush neighborhood was demolished under the federal Urban Renewal program. Bayview attracted some of the first Hmong refugee families to settle in Madison in the mid-1970s. The complex offered low-cost housing that was affordable for new residents. The Bayview Foundation, the non-profit organization that built, owned, and operated the complex sponsored programs and events that supported the concentration of recently arrived residents who lived there. The proximity of the Neighborhood House Community Center and its resettlement service just a few blocks away contributed to the attractiveness of Bayview for Hmong refugees arriving in Madison. In the early 1970s, the administrative offices and a small number of social and educational programs and services were housed in one of the apartment units. In the early 1970s, Bayview gained a reputation for having a high rate of crime, low standards for maintenance, and poor overall management. In 1978, the Bayview Foundation hired a new manager who made dramatic changes, built a new sense of community, and turned Bayview’s reputation around in just a few years. By the mid-1980s, the diversity of cultures represented at Bayview included Hmong, Nigerian, Colombian, African American, Mexican, Cambodian, and First Nations residents. In 1985, the Bayview Foundation built a Community Center building at the center of the housing complex to serve Bayview and other neighborhood residents. The community center became a venue showcasing arts and crafts traditions of the ethnic groups represented at Bayview. In 1990, the Bayview Triangle Mural Project was commissioned to honor the Greenbush neighborhood’s history. In 1991, the foundation became a member of the Community Shares of Wisconsin and hosted the first drum and dance circle at Bayview with the Call for Peace Drum and Dance Company. In 1996, the community center was expanded with a second-floor addition and was renamed the Bayview International Center for Education and the Arts. A major renovation of the property was completed in 2017, including the construction of a new playground, pocket park, gathering space near the east entrance to the community center, and installation of a 19-foot mosaic mural designed and constructed by Bayview residents under the guidance of artist Marcia Yapp titled "La Mariposa de la Vida" (The Butterfly of Life). The foundation hosted the Triangle Ethnic Festival at Bayview from 1985 through 2014. The festival was an annual showcase for Hmong and other cultural traditions. In 2002, Madison artist Harry Whitehorse dedicated his sculpture "One Child Spinning Through Mother Sky" at Bayview at the 18th Annual Triangle Ethnic Fest. For more information on Harry Whitehorse, please see the Arts and Literature chapter. For later waves of Hmong immigrants to Madison, Bayview was a place where they could find an established Hmong community that could ease the transition to their new home and help them navigate a culture that was foreign in almost every way. In 1995, nearly half of Bayview’s 102 residential units were occupied by Hmong families. In 2017 and 2018, Hmong Madisonians reported that when they want to meet Hmong people, they go to Bayview. |
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| Bibliographic References: |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |