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Discovering Historic Preservation, and More
courtesy Madison Trust for Historic Preservation
The Madison Trust for Historic Preservation debuted a new logo with the new year, and also kicks off its architectural lecture series for 2024 with a talk by someone uniquely qualified to discuss local preservation efforts. Retired architect Arlan Kay moved to Madison after graduating from Iowa State in the mid-1960s — a time when the city was still in the midst of the “urban renewal” boom razing historic neighborhoods such as Greenbush. Kay worked for decades on projects emphasizing neighborhood preservation (with Design Coalition) and historic buildings (with his own firm, Architecture Network Inc., and others), and will discuss the growth of preservation efforts in Madison.
media release: Madison was a very different place in the '60s & '70s. Even this small ideal city was buffeted by national trends of flight to the edges and deteriorating older neighborhoods. Urban renewal, a rapidly growing UW campus, turned neighborhoods into student slums and large vacant lots. Banks financed new projects on the fringe and not the core of the City, and an expanding freeway system made it easier to get to that fringe. Viet Nam turned the UW campus into a war zone. Madison residents realized they were losing their community that had been featured as an ideal city on the cover of Life Magazine in the late ‘40’s. Action was needed. Action was taken with failures and successes. Into this melee, Arlan Kay, newly graduated from the Architecture program at Iowa State University, (1966) came to Madison with his very pregnant wife Lori, to find work and raise a family. From his point of view we will explore what happened and the early years of the Madison Trust and many other organizations and individuals that discovered historic preservation, and more. Arlan Kay, FAIA, developed an architectural practice, based in Madison, specialising in existing and historic buildings.
Speaker: Arlan Kay, FAIA, worked for a number of Madison firms, working primarily on new schools, churches and medical buildings. Inspired by local community advocates to reverse the loss of historic buildings he started to participate. In 1972, he dived into neighborhood projects as a reluctant volunteer which led to establishment of the Design Coalition, a nonprofit Community Design Center dedicated to advocacy and neighborhood preservation and enhancement. This was followed by his own practice which specialized in existing and historic buildings. His was the first architecture firm to move back downtown Madison and stay. In “retirement,” he continues to advocate for historic preservation, livable communities and educational opportunities for our youth. He was inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects for his “Service to Society through volunteer work, public service and alternative career.”
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