After withdrawing an earlier proposal, a couple once again is seeking to build a home on a vacant lot next to the landmark, mid-1800s Old Spring Tavern by the UW Arboretum on Madison’s Near West Side.
And again, historic preservationists are opposing the project as too big for the site, among other reasons, and thus calling into question whether it can win city approval.
In mid-May, former Nakoma neighborhood residents Jon and Brenda Furlow withdrew an application to the city’s Landmarks Commission to build a two-story, 4,492-square-foot home with a two-car garage on a quarter-acre lot at 3701 Council Crest, behind the tavern.
The two-story former tavern at 3706 Nakoma Road was built just before the start of the Civil War and used as a stagecoach stop for travelers to and from western Wisconsin. The building was converted from a tavern and hotel into a private residence in 1895, and the grounds surrounding it were named a city landmark in 1972 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. The tavern lot and vacant lot are part of the landmark site.
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Now, the Furlows have submitted an application to build a home of the same size as previously proposed while preserving a historic black walnut tree that’s perhaps 250 years old and sticking to other details of the earlier proposal. But the new proposal attempts to better show the scale of the home in relation to the tavern and contends construction will improve stormwater management in the area.
“We were confident when we filed our original application that our home was consistent in the style and scale of the Nakoma neighborhood,” Jon Furlow said. “But we decided to look at that further, and we were able to review architectural drawings of the tavern. Based on that review, we were able to confirm that our planned home was also consistent in scale with the tavern home.
A rendering of Jon and Brenda Furlow’s proposed home at 3701 Council Crest in the Nakoma neighborhood. To the lower left is the landmark Old Spring Tavern, 3706 Nakoma Road.
“We hired an engineer to conduct a study and propose a design to address water drainage … and it shows that after we build our home there will be less water draining toward the tavern home than is currently draining toward the tavern from the empty lot,” he said. “So, overall we are really comfortable with our plans.”
The Madison Trust for Historic Preservation, which contends the property is one of the city’s most significant historic sites, disagrees with many of the Furlows’ conclusions and remains opposed to the plan.
The proposal has multiple features that disqualify it under at least four of the U.S. Secretary of the Interior’s standards for rehabilitation, including the home’s height and overall size, proximity to the tavern, changes to the landmark property’s west yard, and threat to the black walnut tree, a letter to be submitted the Landmarks Commission says.
“Taken as a whole, the proposal to place a 4,500-square-foot house on this landmark property very close to the landmark tavern unquestionably fails to protect and promote this historic site,” it says.
The Landmarks Commission is scheduled to consider the proposal Aug. 14. City preservation planner Heather Bailey said she has not finalized her recommendations and expects to file a staff report next week.
Any new construction proposed within the boundary of a designated landmark property, which includes both lots, requires review by the Landmarks Commission, Bailey said. No other city committees, boards or commissions would be involved. Any development on a landmark site also must comply with the federal Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation.
The standards protect archeological resources; ensure construction doesn’t destroy historic materials, features and spatial relationships that characterize the property; and ensure construction is done in a way that, if removed, doesn’t impact the essential form and integrity of the historic property and its environment.
The two major considerations for the commission are whether the proposed new construction blends with the setting of the tavern, and how the construction will change site drainage toward the tavern, Bailey said.
The former tavern’s most recent long-term owners, John and Linda Stowe, lived at the property from 1997 to 2022. In April 2022, David Gordon’s company, 3706 Nakoma Road LLC, bought the property for $1.1 million. In the fall of 2022, Gordon won city approval despite adamant opposition to adjust the lot lines so the second, vacant parcel has more space to accommodate a new home. He then sold the lots.
The Furlows, who lived on Oneida Place in Nakoma for 22 years, moved to Minneapolis for job-related reasons in 2015, but are now in a position to relocate back to Madison and bought the lot at 3701 Council Crest to return to the Nakoma neighborhood.
40 notable people who attended UW-Madison
Virgil Abloh
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Shirley Abrahamson
Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson was appointed to the Wisconsin Supreme Court by Gov. Patrick Lucey in 1976. She became chief justice in 1996, the first woman to head the court in the history of the state. She received her doctorate of law in American legal history in 1962 from the UW Law School.
Stephen Ambrose
Stephen Ambrose, American historian and biographer, spent his childhood in Whitewater and earned his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in 1963. Ambrose, probably best known for his books on Lewis and Clark and World War II, wrote more than 30 books, including biographies of U.S. Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon.
Don Ameche
Born in Kenosha, Don Ameche was a versatile leading man of 1930s and ’40s films and second cousin of Alan Ameche, the Heisman Trophy winner from UW-Madison in 1954. His second film career began in 1983 with ” Trading Places,” starring Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd, and two years later, he won an Oscar as supporting actor in “Cocoon.”
Carol Bartz
Carol Bartz, who graduated from UW-Madison in 1971, was formerly the CEO and president of Autodesk and Yahoo! Pictured here in 2004, she studied computer science.
Steve Bornstein
Steve Bornstein was formerly the president and CEO of the NFL Network and also the National Football League’s executive vice president of media. He graduated in 1974 from UW-Madison with a bachelor of science in communications.
Laurel Clark
Laurel Clark was a medical doctor, U.S. Navy captain, NASA astronaut and space shuttle mission specialist who died in the space shuttle Columbia disaster. She was born in Ames, Iowa, but considered Racine in Wisconsin to be her hometown. In 1983, she received a bachelor of science degree in zoology from UW-Madison.
Barbara Crabb
Judge Barbara Crabb, U.S. District judge for the Western District of Wisconsin, graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a bachelor’s degree in 1960 and her law degree in 1962.
Joan Cusack
Actress Joan Cusack has twice been nominated for the Academy Award for best supporting Actress for her work in “Working Girl” and “In & Out.” Cusack performed with Madison’s now-defunct ARK Improvisational Theatre and graduated from UW-Madison.
Ron Dayne
Running back Ron Dayne set an NCAA rushing record for total yards during his career with the Badger football team, wining the 1999 Heisman Trophy. He played seven years in the NFL with the New York Giants, Denver Broncos and Houston Texans.
Ada Deer
In 1957, Ada Deer became the first Menominee to earn an undergraduate degree at UW-Madison. She was also the first woman to head the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs and the first Native American woman from Wisconsin to run for U.S. Congress.
Hector DeLuca
Hector DeLuca, a UW-Madison professor and former chairman of the university’s biochemistry department, is one of UW-Madison’s most prolific inventors and has drawn honors worldwide. DeLuca, a protege of the famed Harry Steenbock, is well known for his research involving vitamin D. DeLuca earned a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in 1955.
August Derleth
August Derleth, a Sauk City native, wrote more than 100 books including biographies, children’s books and fiction, as well as hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1930.
André De Shields
André De Shields got his start in theater at UW-Madison and went on to a stellar Broadway career after graduating in 1970. He played the title role in The Wiz, earned Tony Award nominations Play On! and The Full Monty, and won a 2019 Tony for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Hadestown.
Conrad Elvehjem
Conrad Elvehjem, an internationally known biochemist in nutrition, received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in 1927. Known for his research in nutrition and vitamin B complex work, Elvehjem was also president of the University of Wisconsin from 1958 until his death in 1962.
William T. Evjue
In 1917, William T. Evjue founded The Capital Times, known as “Wisconsin’s Progressive Newspaper.” Evjue, also the editor and publisher of the newspaper, grew up in Merrill and arrived at UW-Madison in 1902.
Jeff Greenfield
Jeff Greenfield, award-winning television journalist and author, obtained his degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1964. While at the UW, he was editor of the campus newspaper, the Daily Cardinal.
Lorraine Hansberry
Lorraine Hansberry attended UW-Madison for two years, then became the first African American female playwright to make it to Broadway with 1959’s A Raisin in the Sun. At age 29, Hansberry was the first African American dramatist to win the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award.
Kevin Henkes
Kevin Henkes, an author and illustrator of children’s books, wrote his first book in 1979, when he was a 19-year-old art student at UW-Madison.
Mary Hinkson
After receiving undergraduate and master’s degrees at UW-Madison in the 1940s, Mary Hinkson broke racial boundaries as a principal dancer with the Martha Graham Dance Company. She also worked with dance legends Alvin Ailey and George Balanchine.
bell hooks
bell hooks, who received her master’s degree from UW-Madison in 1976, is the influential author of Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism and other books about race, gender and feminism. In 1991 she won an American Book Award for Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics.
Jane Kaczmarek
Actress Jane Kaczmarek, one of the stars of “Malcolm in the Middle,” graduated in theater from UW-Madison in 1979. The Golden Globe- and Emmy Award-nominated actress was born in Milwaukee.
Robert M. La Follette
Robert M. La Follette served as governor of Wisconsin, U.S. senator and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and was a candidate for president in 1924. “Fighting Bob” La Follette’s long public career included promoting open primaries, improving the lives of farmers and workers, and leading the state to become one of the first to adopt child labor laws. La Follette graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1879.
Charles Lindbergh
American aviator Charles Lindbergh was the first to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927. Lindbergh was a student at UW-Madison before he left the university in 1922.
Karl Paul Link
Karl Paul Link was a UW-Madison researcher and biochemist who is best known for his discovery of the anticoagulant warfarin, which is used in the prevention of the formation of blood clots in blood vessels. The most famous early patient to be helped by warfarin was President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Link obtained his Ph.D. in agricultural chemistry from UW-Madison in 1925.
James Lovell
James “Jim” Lovell Jr. is a former NASA astronaut and a retired captain in the United States Navy, most famous as the commander of the Apollo 13 mission. He was the first person to fly in space four times, the first of only three people to fly to the moon twice and the only one to have flown there twice without making a landing. He attended UW–Madison for two years before transferring to and graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1952.
David Maraniss
Author and 1993 Pulitzer Prize winner David Maraniss grew up in Madison and attended UW-Madison in the early 1970s. He has written biographies of Bill Clinton and Vince Lombardi as well as “They Marched Into Sunlight,” a saga of the Vietnam era.
Steve Miller
Steve Miller is a musician and singer-songwriter who was born in Milwaukee and went on to record a number of top 10 singles including “The Joker,” “Take the Money and Run,” “Fly Like an Eagle,” “Jungle Love” and many more. In 1961, he entered UW-Madison, where he formed the band the Ardells, and was joined by his friend Boz Scaggs a year later. The blues band also included Ben Sidran and Ken Adamany. Miller dropped out six credit hours shy of a literature degree, opting to pursue his music career.
John Morgridge
John Morgridge, who graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1955, was chairman of Cisco Systems in San Jose, Calif.
Errol Morris
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John Muir
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Gaylord Nelson
Gaylord Nelson, former Wisconsin governor, U.S. senator and the father of Earth Day, was a graduate of the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1942.
Joyce Carol Oates
Joyce Carol Oates, who received her master’s degree from UW-Madison, is the author of more than 40 books, along with plays, short stories and poetry.
Vel Phillips
Vel Phillips was the first African American woman to graduate from the UW-Madison School of Law, earning her degree in 1951. She became a leader in the civil rights movement and Wisconsin’s first African American and woman elected to statewide office.
George Poage
George Poage was a UW-Madison track star and the first African American athlete to win an Olympic medal, earning two bronzes in the 1904 games.
Tommy Thompson
Tommy Thompson, a Republican politician, was the 42nd governor of Wisconsin from 1987 to 2001, making him the longest-serving governor in the state. Thompson also served as the U.S. secretary of health and human services under George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. Thompson earned both his bachelor’s degree (1963) and law degree (’66) from UW-Madison. While in law school, Thompson was elected chairman of the Madison Young Republicans.
Al Toon
Wide receiver Al Toon was a two-time First Team All-Big Ten pick during his 1981-84 career with the Badger football team. In the NFL, he was selected to the Pro Bowl three times and led the league in receptions in 1988.
Greta Van Susteren
Legal analyst and television personality Greta Van Susteren, shown speaking at UW-Madison graduation in 1998, is a native of Appleton and graduated from UW in the late 1970s.
Russell Wilson
Russell Wilson played one year for UW-Madison as quarterback, leading the Badger football team to the 2012 Rose Bowl. His NFL career with the Seattle Seahawks began with a Rookie of the Year award, followed by multiple appearances in the Pro Bowl and Super Bowl.
Frank Lloyd Wright
Architect Frank Lloyd Wright, shown in 1953 in his home at Taliesin in Spring Green, designed more than 1,100 unique architectural structures, including the Monona Terrace Convention Center. Wright attended UW-Madison in 1886 but left after two semesters without getting a degree.