Wisconsin State Journal from Madison, Wisconsin • 141

-mm Weekly Wisconsin State Journal Business Editor Sunday, January 16, 2000 Inside: Classified apartment and townhome rentals To place an ad, call 252-7723 Jennifer Sereno, (608) 252-6155 L-SuT'L-Au Li JyULbLlJ tO Villa Maria regains some of its classic shine Anderson managed the bundling in the early 1980s for Harvey Peterson, the man from whom she purchased the building. 'Those last five years with the fraternity were hard on it" she said. The second, third and fourth floor each have about eight rooms, and on the west end a mezzanine level halfway between each floor holds another three rooms. Each main floor has a community bathroom with four sinks, toilets, bathtub and shower and the five mezzanine levels each have their own small bathroom. There is one room on both the second and the third floor that has an attached private bathroom, which Anderson thinks may have been built for voy-.

lU i uji 1 ff" I'. 1 11 New owner tries to recapture the building's original beauty in the single-tenant units. By Lisa Schuetz For the State Journal When the late Alex Jordan built the Villa Maria in 1923, it was a private girls dormitory for UW-Madison students. Just off Langdon Street at 615 Howard Place, the four-story building's rooms are now rented out to the general public. Architect Frank Riley designed the Spanish Colonial revival building for Jordan, who owned adjacent property as well as House on the Rock.

Jordan also built the 2i2-story house next door that is attached to the Villa Maria by a connecting bridge. The building's style is unusual for both the prolific Riley and the Madison area in general. Its walls are stucco, broken up by irregularly spaced and sized windows. Dormer windows line the top of the structure. A large front terrace is surrounded by iron grillwork and the roof, which was originally covered with red tile as shown in a postcard from about 1950, is now shingled.

"I'd love to be able to restore the roof" said the Villa Maria's owner, Becky Anderson, who also owns that postcard made by Fagan Publishing of Madison. "It would cost a fortune." The only other aspect of the exterior that has been altered is the original pinkish stucco. An earlier owner painted over the natural finish with white and blue paint, which Anderson intends to change when she can. Once inside the front door, battered from serving as a fraternity house for five years until its sale to Anderson three years ago, the Villa Maria's former beauty is readily apparent Black and white tiles line the floors in the front foyer and a spiral staircase leads to the upperlevels. Also showing signs of lost grandeur is the front parlor, now serving as Anderson's office and mailroom.

"One day, I intend to turn this room into a coffee house," said Anderson, who has seen similar projects in other historic buildings. "It's too nice to be an tne hall monitor of the dorm. Anderson has segregated some of the floors to make residents more comfortable with the tight bathroom situation. The second floor is reserved for male occupants, the third floor is coed, and the fourth floor is reserved for women. Although maintaining the building as a rooming house is a lot of work, she is very happy she purchased the Villa Maria.

She bought the place in part, she said, for its historical aspect and because it is a one-of-a-kind structure. "It really is beautiful if you take the time to look at it" said Anderson. The building's surroundings, a narrow road and other tightly sited structures, prevent the large building from attracting the attention of passers-by. Rents range from $250 to $365 per month and include all utilities for a one-year lease. The security deposit is generally one month's rent She also rents to students on a short-term basis, but the rent is slightly higher to cover additional advertising costs and administrative time.

Anderson, who also owns the Eleanor Apartments on Frances Street built in 1914 and the Book Bindery Apartments on Gilman Street said historic buildings are wonderful to own but expensive to maintain. "Everything's old and sometimes parts are hard to find," she said. "It's very satisfying to take a building like the Villa and start fixing them up. Just a little bit here and there as you can afford it" CRAIG SCHREINERWSJ photos TOP: The Villa Maria sits along Howard Place, a little street just off Langdon Street near the UW-Madison campus. ABOVE LEFT Becky Anderson purchased the old private dormitory, at 615 Howard Place, and is working on returning it to its former splendor.

ABOVE RIGHT: A spiral staircase with an iron railing winds upward from the ground floor. The room is lined on three sides by tall glass doors with elliptical fan lights leading out to the cement terrace. On one wall is a sandstone fireplace with a massive mantle approximately 7 feet tall. Dark timbered ceilings approximately 14-feet high add a rustic touch. French doors off the parlor lead to one of the more spacious rooms for rent in the building.

That room has a fireplace and large windows. The other 42 rental rooms in the building are fairly small, allowing only one tenant in each room with space for a desk, bed and dresser. Anderson furnishes the rooms if the residents desire and each has a small refrigerator. In addition to the rental rooms, the building has five-, two- and one-bedroom apart- ments with kitchens that have been recently remodeled. Anderson is slowly making repairs to the worn building.

She has already cleaned up the hallways and is removing carpeting that covers the wood floors as it wears out She also hopes to restore the crystal door handles that were on all of the doors at one time. "It's such a big project," said Anderson, who owns several other older rental buildings. "If I had all the money in the world, there's no question that I would do it" Cooking is prohibited in the rooms and residents who want to make a hot meal can use the large kitchen in the basement of the building, which was added in 1939, Anderson said. The kitchen has two stoves and ovens and commercial sinks since it once served as the dormitory kitchen. A large room just off the kitchen that formerly served as a dining room will eventually be used as her office and the mailroom.

Until 1970, the building only housed university students, Anderson said. Then, it started housing the general publ ic..