Property Record
21-25 S BUTLER ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | TURNER HALL |
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| Other Name: | TURNER HALL |
| Contributing: | |
| Reference Number: | 73258 |
| Location (Address): | 21-25 S BUTLER ST |
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| County: | Dane |
| City: | Madison |
| Township/Village: | |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
| Town: | |
| Range: | |
| Direction: | |
| Section: | |
| Quarter Section: | |
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| Year Built: | 1941 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 1982 |
| Historic Use: | meeting hall |
| Architectural Style: | Art/Streamline Moderne |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
| Architect: | LAW, LAW AND POTTER |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | Yes |
| Demolished Date: | 1997 |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| National Register Listing Date: | |
| State Register Listing Date: |
| Additional Information: | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, State Historic Preservation Office. Basement was damaged by fire on 3/7/1990. TO BE DEMOLISHED 1997. As of 1988 in The First Settlement Neighborhood: A Walking Tour: "Sixteen pioneer German businessmen chartered themselves as the Madison Turnverein (Turner Association) in 1855, one year before the village of 5,000 people became a city. The Turner philosophy, widespread among Germans who immigrated here after the 1848 revolution, involved a program of physical exercise coupled with mental and social stimulation. Many people of the German business community throughout the King Street area and along E. Wilson Street were active in the Turners. Turner hall was used for instruction in gymnastic and physical culture, concerts, lectures, operas and traveling performances. The Turners sponsored the first kindergarten and first lending library in Madison. In 1909, the Madison school system arranged to send all its children to Turner Hall for classes in the only gymnasium in town. The Turners acquired this site and erected a building in 1858; it was destroyed by fire in 1863. German-born architect August Kutzbock built a new facility in 1863 which served until it too was destroyed by fire in 1940. Architects Law, Law and Potter built the current edifice of the 1863 foundation." |
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| Bibliographic References: | "OLD TURNER HALL BURNS," WSJ, NOV. 15, 1940, P. 1. Wisconsin State Journal, 5/20/1997, p. 1B. Sheboygan Press 10/4/1941. Madison Landmarks Commission and Capitol Neighborhoods, The First Settlement Neighborhood: A Walking Tour, 1988. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |