Property Record
1815 SUMMIT AVE
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Josephine and Thomas Morris House |
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| Other Name: | |
| Contributing: | Yes |
| Reference Number: | 106699 |
| Location (Address): | 1815 SUMMIT AVE |
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| County: | Dane |
| City: | Madison |
| Township/Village: | |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
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| Year Built: | 1912 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 1978 |
| Historic Use: | house |
| Architectural Style: | Prairie School |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Stucco |
| Architect: | Alvan Small |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | University Heights Historic District |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 12/17/1982 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 1/1/1989 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: |
| Additional Information: | Morris (1871-1919) lived here from 1914-1919. Was a business manager for the Wisconsin State Journal. Was President of the T.S. Morris Paper Co. from 1914-1919. Was President of the Madison Hospital Association. Co-founder of the Scanlon-Morris Manufacturing Co. Josephine, widow of Thomas, lived here until 1927. George B. Nelson, associate justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, lived here from 1933-1935. The University Heights Historic District: A Walking Tour: "Among the most important buildings in the Heights is the superb group of prairie style residences designed by Madison architect Alvan E. Small (1869-1932). Small was born in Sun Prairie and educated in Madison. Afterwards he entered the Madison offices of Conover and Porter, staying there until 1897. Following a period spent in the Chicago offices of Louis Sullivan, Small returned to Madison and formed a partnership with Lew F. Porter which lasted until 1907 when he went on his own. His subsequent Prairie School houses were essentially variations on a theme, consisting of a rectangular, side gabled block having at least partially stuccoed walls, wide overhanging eaves, grouped windows and simple wood trim." "Thomas and Josephine Morris commissioned the design of this dwelling in the Prairie mode to Alvan Small in 1910-11. A simple rectangular mass sheltered by a roof with generous overhangs, the Morris house exhibits some of the typical details specified by Small in many of his designs: stucco and brick are used as exterior materials, wood trim is inset in the stucco, and windows are grouped to continue a horizontal expression. A leaded glass window on the street facade adds a handsome decorative detail to the elevation. When the house was constructed it afforded magnificent views to the south and the east. The view to the south remains today because of a precipitous site." Madison Landmarks Commission, University Heights: A Walk Through A Turn of the Century Suburb, n.d. |
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| Bibliographic References: | City directories. Tax records. Building permit. Interview with daughter of T.S. Morris. Madison Democrat 3/5/1919. Wisconsin State Journal, Madison Past and Present, 1902. Housing Madison: Where We Live, Where We Work. Ed. Anna Vemer Andrzejewski and Arnold R. Alanen for “Nature + City: Vernacular Buildings and Landscapes of the Upper Midwest,” 2012 Meeting of the Vernacular Architecture Forum (VAF). Madison Landmarks Commission and the Regent Neighborhood Association, The University Heights Historic District: A Walking Tour, 1987. Madison Landmarks Commission, University Heights: A Walk Through A Turn of the Century Suburb, n.d. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |