Madison City Council rejects appeal to house behind Old Spring Tavern

MADISON, Wis. (WMDX) – The Madison City Council last night rejected an attempt to block a home from being built behind the historic Old Springs Tavern on the near-west side. While the home was approved in November, neighbors to the property filed an appeal last month, saying that the proposed home would change the appearance and feel of the Old Spring Tavern.

The Old Spring Tavern at 3706 Nakoma Road was built in the mid-1800s, before being converted into a private home in the 1890s. The tavern and the property it sat on was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. 

Jon and Brenda Furlow first came to the city asking to build a large new home next to the tavern last year. Because it sits so close to the tavern, and because property lines were moved in 2022 to actually put the Furlow’s property onto part of the tavern’s original property, the project went to the city’s Landmarks Commission. After months of redesigning the plans, the commission voted in November that the new home fit the standards of appropriateness needed to build a new home. 

Less than a month later, neighbors to the property filed an appeal to reverse the Landmark Commission’s vote. They argue that a home of that size would alter the look and feel of not just the Old Spring Tavern, but the neighborhood as a whole. The Nakoma Neighborhood is also on the National Register of Historic Places. 

During an hour-and-a-half long public comment session at last night’s Common Council meeting, Madison historian and former chair of the city’s Landmarks Commission Stu Levitan argued that the appeal should be granted.

“No where in the neighborhood is there another structure of such size and mass so close to the front of another property, let alone a historic property,” Levitan says. “That is the very definition of not being compatible.” 

Levitan also recognized that some have used the Landmarks Commission in the past to block developments they simply did not want to see built in their neighborhoods, specifically affordable housing projects. He says that this is not the case with this property, and that the property is simply too big to fit with the Old Spring Tavern.

The debate was largely driven by alders who wanted to accept the appeal, and send the new home back to the Landmarks Commission: District 6 Alder Marsha Rummel, District 11 Alder Bill Tishler, and District 12 Alder Amani Latimer-Burris. Most of those who ultimately voted against the appeal remained quiet during last night’s meeting. 

Assistant City Attorney Kate Smith said that the property owners do have a right to build a home on the site, granted that it does meet the standards put in place by the city, in this case by the Landmarks Commission. If the council were to accept the appeal, they would need to provide clear and concrete reasons as to why they voted to overrule the Landmarks Commission.

The council did vote 11 to 9 to reject the appeal last night, allowing the construction of the home to move forward.