For Immediate Release
Contact: Kara O’Keeffe
kara.okeeffe@wisconsinhistory.
608-261-9596
December 18, 2017
The Tenney Building in Madison Listed in National Register of Historic Places
Madison, Wis. – The Wisconsin Historical Society has announced the listing of the Tenney Building in Madison, Dane County, in the National Register of Historic Places. National Register designation provides access to certain benefits, including qualification for grants and for rehabilitation income tax credits, while it does not restrict private property owners in the use of their property.
The Art Deco style Tenney Building was begun in 1929 and completed in 1930 at a cost of $1,200,000. It has been an important city of Madison landmark since the day it was first occupied and is Madison’s finest privately owned Art Deco style high-rise office building. The Tenney Building was designed by Law, Law, and Potter, which in 1930 was Madison’s largest architectural firm, and is an excellent example of the Art Deco style. The exterior design has a pronounced vertical emphasis and features such typical Art Deco motifs as bands of geometric ornament of both cut stone and terra cotta, and highly decorative bronze lighting fixtures and grill work. In addition, the building’s lavishly decorated elevator lobby, which features boldly colored marble walls, a marble floor, polished bronze elevator doors, bronze lighting fixtures, and other polished bronze elements, is one of Madison’s finest Art Deco style interiors.
The register is the official national list of historic properties in America deemed worthy of preservation and is maintained by the National Park Service in the U.S. Department of the Interior. The Wisconsin Historical Society administers the program within Wisconsin. It includes sites, buildings, structures, objects and districts that are significant in national, state or local history, architecture, archaeology, engineering or culture.
To learn more about the State and National Register programs in Wisconsin, visit www.wisconsinhistory.org.
About Wisconsin Historical Society
The Wisconsin Historical Society, founded in 1846, ranks as one of the largest, most active and most diversified state historical societies in the nation. As both a state agency and a private membership organization, its mission is to help people connect to the past by collecting, preserving and sharing stories. The Wisconsin Historical Society serves millions of people every year through a wide range of sites, programs and services. For more information, visit www.wisconsinhistory.org
