Gary Tipler
Built in 1886, the house at 123 West Gilman St. is owned by Steve Brown Apartments.
The architecture is not significant, but what went on inside the house at 123 W. Gilman St. is: Most critically, former state lawmaker David Clarenbach lived there between 1977 and 1982, when he authored and helped push the nation’s first gay rights bill through the state Legislature.
Other pioneers in Madison’s LGBT community lived there as well, including Jim Yeadon, who, when elected to the Common Council in 1977, became the first openly gay person elected in Wisconsin and the fourth openly gay elected official in the United States, just ahead of San Francisco’s Harvey Milk. U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin never lived there, but held her first-ever campaign event at the house on Dec. 6, 1985, when running for Dane County Board.
Gary Tipler, a historic preservation consultant, and others are now trying to establish landmark status for the house, built in 1886. “Why is it historic?” Tipler asked at recent kick-off for the effort. “It comes down to the beginnings of the people associated with it, its history, its significant history,” he said.
Tipler submitted his application to the Landmarks Commission a little over a month ago. Amy Scanlon, the city’s preservation planner, says she now needs to review the application for “accuracy and completeness” before referring it to the Landmarks Commission for a public hearing. The panel would then deliberate the application and send a recommendation to the Common Council on whether to designate the property as a landmark. The council, which has the ultimate authority, then votes on the application.
Scanlon has a full workload at the moment but says she hopes to be able to conduct her review by January or February.
The state’s gay rights bill passed in 1982. At a party celebrating the 30th anniversary of the law, Clarenbach noted the bill passed with support from both sides of the aisle. “We were able to get Republican support to create a truly bipartisan gay rights law,” he said. “Without those votes it wouldn’t have passed.”
During this time Clarenbach was also working on a “Consenting Adults” bill, which became law in 1983; it decriminalized, among other things, homosexuality and sex outside of marriage.
After Clarenbach moved out of 123 W. Gilman in 1982, others involved in the gay rights movement moved in. Lynn Haanen, who helped pass a gay rights ordinance while a member of the Dane County Board, lived there from 1982 to 1986. Earl Bricker moved into the house in 1983. He would a few years later staff the Governor’s Council on Lesbian and Gay Issues while working for Gov. Tony Earl.
Steve Brown bought the house in 1989.
About three years ago Steve Brown Apartments proposed moving the house in order to make room for a $14 million redevelopment on the block, which is in the Mansion Hill Historic District. It was a controversial proposal and, in April 2014, the Common Council upheld a decision by the Landmarks Commission that blocked the redevelopment. Other nearby properties would have been demolished for the project, including a 1960s high-rise at 121 W. Gilman St. and a house at 127 W. Gilman.
Margaret Watson, CEO of Steve Brown Apartments, said at the time that her company would not submit another redevelopment proposal until revisions were made to the landmarks ordinance.
Stu Levitan, member of the Landmarks Commission, says that structural changes to the landmarks ordinance have since been made — clarifying the standards for appeals, for instance — but a reassessment of the criteria for landmark status within each of the city’s historical districts has just started.
“The process we’re going through now is to see what those standards and criteria should be going forward,” says Levitan, who is a contributor to Isthmus.
Watson did not return two phone messages. Scanlon says the property owner is aware of the nomination for landmark status and has been meeting with interested parties.
Dick Wagner, civic activist and the first openly gay member of the Dane County Board, is writing a book about Wisconsin’s gay history. He says 123 W. Gilman was the “domicile of some very important people” related to the gay rights movement.
The house symbolizes another significant piece of Wisconsin history, adds Wagner: the state’s “history of out elected officials.” He notes how groundbreaking it was when Yeadon was elected easily to the city council, despite facing harsh gay-baiting by local Republicans and some “frat boys.” Before Yeadon, there was Judy Greenspan, who in 1973 ran for Madison school board as an out lesbian. She lost but won big in downtown districts, says Wagner, which “portended” well for other candidates who would run on platforms of nondiscrimination based on sexual orientation.
Wagner lived around the block on Gorham Street at the time. He ran in 1974 for the Common Council but lost to Carol Wuennenberg, who, with her husband Rudi, purchased 123 W. Gilman in 1973 for three of their children who were enrolled at UW-Madison.
The house, writes Tipler in his landmark application, “became a hotbed of political activism for progressive, gay and lesbian, and other politically-active University of Wisconsin students and their friends.”
The city is working to create a historic preservation plan to provide guidelines for preserving the cultural history of traditionally underrepresented groups in Madison, including African Americans, Latinos, Hmong, First Nations people and members of the LGBTQ community. But that process likely won’t have any impact on the landmark application for 123 W. Gilman “because of the timing,” says Bill Fruhling, principal planner for the Department of Planning and Community and Economic Development.
“The historic preservation plan is a two-year-long process that is just beginning,” he says, noting the next step is for the mayor to appoint an advisory committee. “We want to reach out to underrepresented groups and make sure that … those places that are significant to them and in the history of our community are part of our preservation efforts in the future.”
For Wagner, those efforts could not come soon enough.
“It’s a shame we have to wait so long for our first gay landmark in town.”
Update: After publication, Margaret Watson of Steve Brown Apartments emailed a statement: "We are currently gathering information about the specific application you referenced and will comment after we have completed our review."