Louis Hirsig House

Louis Hirsig was born in 1876 forty-five miles south of Madison in Monroe. Starting at age 14 as an apprentice tinsmith in Monroe, he worked his way into the retail business in Madison.[2]

About 1913 Hirsig commissioned Madison architect Alvin Small to design a home. Small designed the house in the compact-cubicle form of Prairie Style, with a brick foundation, with stucco walls, with broad eaves that emphasize the horizontal, and with a side-gabled roof covered with flat red tile. The bands of windows are typical Prairie style. The trim-boards give a hint of half-timbering. A shed roof porch shelters the front door and echoes the main roof above.[3]

Alvin Small was born nearby in Sun Prairie, and began work for the architects Allen Conover and Lew Porter, then a year for Louis Sullivan in Chicago, then back to Madison for several partnerships.[3] Small also designed the stylistically very different Grimm Book Bindery.[4]

By 1934 Louis was partnered in a hardware store called Wolff-Kubly & Hirsig Co. on the capitol square, at 17 South Pinckney.[5] A charter member of Madison Rotary, Louis was involved in many civic organizations, including Red Cross, and the Chamber of Commerce. He died in 1959.[2]

In 1974 the Hirsig house was added to the NRHP as a locally significant, good example of compact-cubical Prairie Style.[3] The following year it was designated a landmark by the Madison Landmarks Commission.[1] It is located within the Sherman Avenue Historic District.[6]