405 - 407 North Frances Street
The Eleanor Apartments
in Madison, Wisconsin.
I got nothin’ on the Eleanor yet. I stopped to photograph it because it’s a triangle building, and I love Madison’s triangle buildings. When I had time later, I looked up the address in the Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory and about all they’ve got that I couldn’t get from a good once-over with my own eyeballs is that it was built in 1914 and designed by architect Martin P. Schneider.
At first glance it doesn’t look as though there’s room enough inside the Eleanor for fourteen apartments, but then people lived in much smaller apartments than we’re used to seeing now, and the building is a lot larger than its triangular shape implies.
The Frances doesn’t show up as a listing in the city directory until the 1919 issue. The residents then were:
Apt. A: Ella Dahle, a stenographer for Forest Product Laboratories
Apt. B: William L. Miller, an advertising manager for the Wisconsin State Journal, and his wife Hylda
Apt. C: Joseph Waller, US Army, and his wife Addie
Apt. D: Alphonso C. Heibel, secretary of the Heibel Bottling Co, and his wife Cath
Apt. E: Anna MacKay, listed only as widow of Kenneth C MacKay
Apt. F: Minnie Peterson, stenographer for the Tax Commission
Apt. G: Howard J. Farrell, manager at 14 Proudfit (Adoplh Marshall’s rennet-making enterprise, the Marschall Dairy Laboratory)
Apt. I: Hattie Walker, listed only as widow of George P. Walker
Apt. J: Art F. McDuffie, engineer at Forest Product Laboratories, and wife Ruth
Apt. K: Alice M. Carey, stenographer at the University of Wisconsin
Apt. L: Albro Pope, no profession listed, and wife Mattie J.
Apt. M: Otto Harloff, of the Harloff Loprich Electric Co, and wife Ruth
Apt. N: August Hast, listed as “trav” (traveling salesman?), and wife Martha E.
Ben C. Cover, reporter for an insurance department, and wife Marian B
Eva Paull, bookkeeper at 17 E Main St
There are no apartments on the ground floor that I can see, only retail spaces for shops. The Eleanor was built to be a “mixed-use” building before that terminology became trendy and indicated a gentrified neighborhood.
ACCORDING TO SOURCES:
Managed by Laketowne Apartments; offices at 22 Langdon St #101 (608) 255-6550 and 615 Howard Place (608) 255-3311; http://www.laketowne.com/
Built: 1914
Style: Neoclassical
material: red brick
Architect: Martin Schneider
Use: apartments
- — -
1st ward
University Addition
Wells Subdivision of Blk 9
Parcel No: 251/0709-232-0213-2
Last updated: 3/7/08