View Of Downtown Madison (The City On An Isthmus)

The downtown Madison area is located between two lakes.

Lake Monona and Lake Mendota.

This is a photo I took today from the Lake Monona side. Over looking Lake Monona, you can see the downtown Madison area, including the Monona Terrace and the Wisconsin State Capital building.

The Monona Terrace is the building front and center in the picture, looking like it is floating right on the water. The Monona Terrace is the city community and convention center and was designed by famed architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. From the Monona Terrace webpage:

On July 18, 1997, Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center opened its doors after nearly 60 years of debate. It was first designed by Wisconsin native and internationally renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1938 as a cultural, governmental and recreational building. Wright reworked the design several times between 1938 and 1958 before signing off on the final plans seven weeks before his death in 1959.

The State Capital building is peaking out from behind a large brown building. Your can see the top of the dome. The State Capital building is the tallest building in the picture. The building reaches a height of 284 feet. The reason why it so clearly dominates the downtown Madison skyline is because of a little building ordinance called the “Capitol View Preservation Ordinance”. This ordinance states,

…that buildings within a mile of the State Capitol should not exceed the height of the base of the columns beneath the dome: 187.2 feet above Lake Monona.