Capitol Square - Winter Dawn 1953 Snowfall Dawn at Capitol

Cityscape Modelling Project - Capitol Square in 1953

The objective of the cityscape modelling project was to create a 3D model of buildings and streets surrounding the Wisconsin State Capitol building in downtown Madison, Wisconsin as it existed in year 1953.

The main components of the model include the State Capitol building, its surrounding greenspace, and the streets which surround the capitol, including Mifflin, Carroll, Main and Pinckney streets.

The basic street layout and contours were derived from topographic map references found on the web. Buildings were modelled by referring exclusively to photographic references and no blueprints or building plans were used.

Many buildings from the 1953 era still exist and I was able to use some photographs from my personal collection as reference material for some of these building, most notably for the central Capitol building, Tenney building, Wisconsin building, American Excahnge Bank, Belmont Hotel and Barons Department Store. The construction of the remaining buildings required extensive reference to archived photographs from the Wisconsin Historical Society which are available on the web.