800 Langdon St., Madison, Wisconsin. County/parish: Dane.
Added to the National Register of Historic Places May 19, 2015. NRIS 15000255.
1 contributing building.
Memorial Union is an Italianate Renaissance Revival-style complex built in 1926-28 at the University of Wisconsin–Madison on the south shore of Lake Mendota as a social and recreational gathering place for all students, designed partly to break down socioeconomic barriers. Before Memorial Union, the UW had no union; at its opening in 1928, then-President Glenn Frank said, "The Union is a living room, which converts the university from a house of learning to a home of learning."
On the building's north side is the Terrace, a popular outdoor space overlooking the lake. The UW's Union has gained a reputation as one of the most beautiful student centers on a university campus.
In 2015, the Union was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, considered significant as an early American college union, which was ground-breaking in supporting ideas of Progressive Era education. It is also considered significant for its association with its first director Porter Butts, who guided the Union's development from 1928 to 1968, and was a thought-leader in college unions.
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