802 East Gorham Street
Madison, WI, USA

Adolph H. Kayser House

The Adolph H. Kayser House is a Prairie Style house built in 1902 a half mile north of the capitol above Lake Mendota in Madison, Wisconsin. In 1980 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.


History
Adolph H. Kayser was a German immigrant who ran a lumber company in Madison and would become mayor of Madison after this house was built. He was married to Hedwig.

Louis W. Claude and Edward F. Starck started an architecture firm in Madison in 1896. Up into the 1890s almost all designs by American architects were in styles derived from European models (e.g. Greek Revival, Italianate, and Queen Anne) but in the 1890s some American architects started looking for an American style independent of European precedents. The new ideas were called "progressive" and later "Prairie School." Claude had worked for Louis Sullivan in Chicago in the early 1890s, alongside Frank Lloyd Wright and George Elmslie at a time when George Maher was also working in Chicago. All were leaders of the Prairie School. Claude and Starck started out designing in traditional styles like Queen Anne, but gradually shifted to include Prairie style influences in their designs - particularly in the many public libraries they later designed. The Kayser house represents an early point in that transition.

The Kayser house is 2.5 stories, with a footprint roughly rectangular and a hip roof flared above the eaves. Exterior walls are clad in orange-tan brick on a foundation of rock-faced limestone, with brick quoins at the corners. The front porch was originally square, but has been replaced with a polygonal porch supported by square columns. Beneath the porch, the front door is flanked by four Ionic columns, and beyond that, two shallow bays with the outer windows decorated with a flat stone lintel. Above the porch, a centered three-part window is separated by unusual columns, which point to the large arch-fronted dormers that rise from the roof. Other sides of the house have similar bays and dormers. Inside the front door, a central hall leads to shared rooms on the first floor. A dark oak arch leads to a stair to the second floor, with five bedrooms and a bathroom.

Many of these elements are from Classical Revival style: the quoins and columns and the symmetry of the façade. But other elements are Prairie style. The broad eaves and the belt course between the stories emphasize the horizontal. The arched dormers look very much like something from a George Maher design, as do the odd columns above the porch.

The Kaysers lived in the house for 21 years. Then in 1922 they built a new house in the then-popular Colonial Revival style a short distance away at 425 N. Livingston St.

Their 1902 was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 and on the State Register of Historic Places in 1989, noting that "it represents a fine example of a large residence designed by an important regional architectural firm, Claude and Starck of Madison, Wisconsin, in the 'progressive' manner emerging in the Midwest as opposed to the traditional revival types of architecture."

National Register of Historic Places - Adolph H. Kayser House

Statement of Significance:

Following statement of significance is from "Adolph E. Kayser House" by Gordon D. Orr, Jr., 1980, and is copyrighted 1980 by the author. It is used by permission.

The Adolph H. Kayser Residence built about 19023 is significant in that it represents a fine example of a large residence designed by an important regional architectural firm, Claude and Starck of Madison, Wisconsin, in the "progressive" manner emerging in the Midwest as opposed to the traditional revival types of architecture.

Perhaps four examples of this distinct form of architecture remain in Madison representing early attempts at a departure from more traditional architectural forms. Both members of the architectural firm had experience in Chicago and one member, Louis W. Claude, worked in the office of Louis H. Sullivan at the time when George Grant Elmslie and Frank Lloyd Wright were also employed there. Louis W. Claude was in the Chicago area when George W. Maher was beginning his practice and publishing some of his thoughts on architectural design in "The Western Architect." His work was also being published. This influence was brought back to Madison when Louis W. Claude returned in 1894 and his partnership with Edward F. Starck commenced about 1896. The Adolph H. Kayser House not only represents the finest survivor of these early homes, but it was built for a man important in both business and politics in the community. Mr. Kayser for many years maintained a lumber company and from 1914 through 1916 he was Mayor of the City of Madison.

The firm of Claude and Starck continued to practice in Madison until 1929 when the partnership dissolved. During the approximately 33 years of active practice the firm acquired a regional reputation in the design of small library buildings and one partner, Louis W. Claude, contributed to library journal articles on library design. The firm also designed several public-school buildings, banks, and commercial structures throughout the state as well as many private residences. That portion of their work that expressed a progressive bent in architectural design is recognized today as noteworthy, and some of their buildings such as the libraries in Tomah, Jefferson and Merrill, Wisconsin and Rochelle, Illinois, and the William Collins House and George Lougee House both in Madison, and all on the National Register, clearly express their strong grasp of the Prairie School tradition. The adolph H. Kayser House is a forerunner to this later expression, but clearly it is a departure from the more common revival architecture of the period.