Steinle Turret Machine Co.
149 Waubesa St. Madison, Wisconsin-
This is one of a series of plaques that the City of Madison, Wisconsin places on properties that are designated under the city’s Landmarks Ordinance. When we bought a house across the street from the building it was abandoned and derelict. Two years later the Community Center on the east side of the city bought the building and completely rehabilitated for its programs (pre-school, after-school, food pantry, cafe, fitness center, conference rooms, teen center). The transformation changed the neighborhood, chased the baddies away, rescued a decaying industrial site, and kept a major piece of the east-side industrial heritage in our urban landscape.
It says: “The Steinle Turret Machine Co. building represents Madison’s early industrial heritage. This building is significant as a manufacturing type known as a production shed. It is characterized by its one-story brick construction of considerable length, having a 3-bay form, with a tall central crane bay for a traveling production crane, an open floor plan, monitor roof, and steel-framed, wire-glass windows. The exterior design, termed astylistic utilitarian, reflected an engineers concept of beauty on function and utility, detailed to imply strength and efficient organization.”