Beatty (& Beatty) & Strang

Last updated January 22, 2025

Hamilton Beatty, Gwenydd (Chewett) Beatty, and Allen Strang were architects who together designed the first International Style buildings in and around Madison, Wisconsin from 1930 to 1941. Hamilton and Gwenydd Beatty worked together on a few houses and proposed plans from 1930 to 1934, while Allen Strang designed two houses outside of Madison in 1934. Beginning in 1935, Hamilton Beatty and Allen Strang worked together on at least 36 houses, several school additions, and some proposed plans. (Gwenydd Beatty did not seem to have a role in that work.) In 1940, Beatty left Madison and became an industrial designer. In 1942, Strang went to Chicago to work for the Federal Housing Authority.^[1]^{[ unreliable source? ]}

Backgrounds

Hamilton (Ham) Beatty (1907-1992) was born in Madison. His father was a professor in the English Department at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Although asked by his father to take a degree in English, Beatty also studied architecture at the Bartlett School of Architecture at University College, London, and worked for a local architect during the summer. While in England, Ham met Gwenydd Chewett, who was also a student at Bartlett. They married in 1929. After a regular job was ended by the stock market crash, Ham worked voluntarily under Le Corbusier until 1930. The couple then moved to Madison.^[2]

Allen Strang (1906-1996) was born in Richland Center, Wisconsin (birthplace of Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959)). Strang studied engineering at the University of Wisconsin, then architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. A travelling fellowship allowed him to spend a year touring Europe in 1931. He also worked under Paul Cret in Philadelphia and Law, Law & Potter in Madison before returning to Richland Center to open his own practice. In 1935, he moved to Madison to go into business with Ham Beatty; they had been fraternity brothers at the UW.

Pioneering work

In 1931, Ham and Gwenyyd designed two modern houses in the Frost Woods development in what is now Monona, Wisconsin, outside of Madison. Starting in 1935, Beatty and Strang designed 14 additional modern houses there, including the NRHP listed Willard and Fern Tompkins House.^[3] (Several of those houses were for members of the UW English Department.) It is the first and largest group of International Styles buildings in Wisconsin.^[4] Frost Woods has been proposed as a historic district.^[5]^[6]

The rest of Beatty and Strang's houses were in Madison and its suburbs. The firm also designed several school additions in southern Wisconsin, as well as submitting plans to competitions and periodicals. They were featured in the journals Architectural Record and Architectural Forum , among others. After World War II, Allen Strang returned to Madison and led several architectural firms until he retired in 1977. Beatty became an executive with the construction company he had joined before the war. The State Historical Society of Wisconsin publication "Cultural Resource Management in Wisconsin" placed Beatty & Strang in their list of "Notable Architects and Firms".^[7]

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References

↑ Filipowicz, Diane (1985). Beatty and Strang: The Problem of Modernism in American Architectural Practice (unpublished master's thesis). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University.
↑ Miller, Justin (2022). NRHP Registration Form: Willard and Fern Tompkins House. Washington, DC: National Park Service.
↑ "110 Henuah Cr | National or State Registers Record". Wisconsin Historical Society . 2012. Retrieved 18 January 2025.
↑ Weisiger, Marsha (2017). Buildings of Wisconsin. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press.
↑ Intensive Survey of Historical and Architectural Sites: City of Monona. Middleton, WI: Mead & Hunt. 2019. OCLC 1341852942.
↑ Parker Olsen (June 29, 2024). "Monona looks to preserve Frost Woods neighborhood history". HNGnews.com. Retrieved 2025-01-17.
↑ Wyatt, Barbara (1986). "Architecture". Cultural Resource Management in Wisconsin, Vol. 2 (PDF). Madison, Wisconsin: State Historical Society of Wisconsin. p. 6-1.

Other sources

Monona in the Making: History of the City of Pride, 1938-1975, 1999, Dorothy Browne Haines, Historic Blooming Grove Historical Society, Monona, WI.

https://www.mymonona.com/1660/International-Style-Homes

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[Filip-1] Filipowicz, Diane (1985). Beatty and Strang: The Problem of Modernism in American Architectural Practice (unpublished master's thesis). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University.

[NRHP-2] Miller, Justin (2022). NRHP Registration Form: Willard and Fern Tompkins House. Washington, DC: National Park Service.

[3] "110 Henuah Cr | National or State Registers Record". Wisconsin Historical Society . 2012. Retrieved 18 January 2025.

[Weis-4] Weisiger, Marsha (2017). Buildings of Wisconsin. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press.

[M&H-5] Intensive Survey of Historical and Architectural Sites: City of Monona. Middleton, WI: Mead & Hunt. 2019. OCLC 1341852942.

[6] Parker Olsen (June 29, 2024). "Monona looks to preserve Frost Woods neighborhood history". HNGnews.com. Retrieved 2025-01-17.

[7] Wyatt, Barbara (1986). "Architecture". Cultural Resource Management in Wisconsin, Vol. 2 (PDF). Madison, Wisconsin: State Historical Society of Wisconsin. p. 6-1.

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