Backwords
Building Memories
By Jay Rath '85
Great names come to mind whenever I think of my years at the University of Wisconsin: Bascom . . . Van Hise . . . and, most of all, Peabody.
Peabody?
Yes, Arthur Peabody, who more than anyone created the Madison campus. As UW architect, he oversaw the design of Barnard, Birge, Sterling, and Lathrop Halls, the Field House, the Memorial Union, the Carillon Tower, Mechanical Engineering, old Camp Randall, the Stock Pavilion — well, to cut the list short, if you have ever loved a campus building, it's probably Peabody's. From 1906 to 1940 he designed or oversaw the design of more than sixty UW buildings. In fact, about the only beloved landmark he didn't design is the Union Terrace.
His daughter, Charlotte, did that. A fledgling landscape architect herself, she also picked out the original sunburst chairs.
Great names come to mind whenever I think of my years at the University of Wisconsin: Bascom . . . Van Hise . . . and, most of all, Peabody.
Peabody?
Yes, Arthur Peabody, who more than anyone created the Madison campus. As UW architect, he oversaw the design of Barnard, Birge, Sterling, and Lathrop Halls, the Field House, the Memorial Union, the Carillon Tower, Mechanical Engineering, old Camp Randall, the Stock Pavilion — well, to cut the list short, if you have ever loved a campus building, it's probably Peabody's. From 1906 to 1940 he designed or oversaw the design of more than sixty UW buildings. In fact, about the only beloved landmark he didn't design is the Union Terrace.
His daughter, Charlotte, did that. A fledgling landscape architect herself, she also picked out the original sunburst chairs.
When Peabody arrived at the UW in 1905, he remarked that there were "examples of every style of architecture in vogue during the half century." Perhaps his greatest achievement is that he set about to change that and tried to bring a unifying style to campus.
But Peabody's memory is eclipsed now. Who has heard of him in a city and state blessed with Frank Lloyd Wright? And yet, I think Peabody was just as great, creating massive public edifices that manage to resemble, on the insides, cozy family bungalows.
I love Science Hall and the Red Gym, because they are old friends. But when Peabody arrived, they were just eighteen and eleven years old, respectively. Peabody found them "grotesque" buildings that were "strained to the cracking point."
He turned to the Georgian and Renaissance Revival of Bascom and North and South Halls, but he mixed in a strong Craftsman influence, which gave his massive buildings an airiness and friendliness that even today makes them fresh. Peabody loved to use local materials,
and he stopped using Madison sandstone only when local quarries ran out.
But Peabody's memory is eclipsed now. Who has heard of him in a city and state blessed with Frank Lloyd Wright? And yet, I think Peabody was just as great, creating massive public edifices that manage to resemble, on the insides, cozy family bungalows.
I love Science Hall and the Red Gym, because they are old friends. But when Peabody arrived, they were just eighteen and eleven years old, respectively. Peabody found them "grotesque" buildings that were "strained to the cracking point."
He turned to the Georgian and Renaissance Revival of Bascom and North and South Halls, but he mixed in a strong Craftsman influence, which gave his massive buildings an airiness and friendliness that even today makes them fresh. Peabody loved to use local materials,
and he stopped using Madison sandstone only when local quarries ran out.
And he loved red tile roofs. His Memorial Union, with its green tile, is one of few exceptions. For the Union, he chose the tile for its unifying influence, but also because he wanted that building to be different — his masterpiece.
He described the Union as "designed to harmonize with the university's general architectural style, but in the rather lighthearted manner of the joy palaces erected during the seventeenth century on the Italian campagna." Today, the Union undeniably remains the UW's joy palace.
Though he died in 1942, Peabody's influence lives on. The UW's Murray Mall Design Concept, which would connect the Memorial Union to Dayton Street near the Kohl Center in a grand esplanade, is Peabody's. And his style is mimicked in the new Grainger Hall and Fluno Center.
In 1978, a university committee assessed the buildings most worthy of preservation. Many of Peabody's were placed on third or fourth priority lists, meaning that they "merely" provide a sense of unity to the campus and "cannot be considered of high value."
He described the Union as "designed to harmonize with the university's general architectural style, but in the rather lighthearted manner of the joy palaces erected during the seventeenth century on the Italian campagna." Today, the Union undeniably remains the UW's joy palace.
Though he died in 1942, Peabody's influence lives on. The UW's Murray Mall Design Concept, which would connect the Memorial Union to Dayton Street near the Kohl Center in a grand esplanade, is Peabody's. And his style is mimicked in the new Grainger Hall and Fluno Center.
In 1978, a university committee assessed the buildings most worthy of preservation. Many of Peabody's were placed on third or fourth priority lists, meaning that they "merely" provide a sense of unity to the campus and "cannot be considered of high value."
I suppose. For alumni, any university building becomes cherished for what we experienced there. My dad lived in Peabody's lakeshore dorms, and he always talked about how much he loved the architect's red tile roofs. Many of my strongest campus memories originated in Peabody creations. I remember the day my freshman girlfriend Jennifer and I broke up in the Memorial Union cafeteria. And then there's Peabody's Bascom Hill setting for the Lincoln statue, where I kissed Anne. She was short and I had to lean down. She played flute. She wore a shiny, dark brown leather jacket. I wonder where she is now.
It's no accident, then, that Peabody's buildings are the ones most often found on campus postcards. He's given me — and many of us — an anchor to the past, and to all the teachers and students who have passed through his hallways in the years since Charles Van Hise brought our most prolific architect to campus.
It's no accident, then, that Peabody's buildings are the ones most often found on campus postcards. He's given me — and many of us — an anchor to the past, and to all the teachers and students who have passed through his hallways in the years since Charles Van Hise brought our most prolific architect to campus.
