The district has a high concentration of period revival style buildings - many built from 1900 to 1930 to house Greek letter societies, and many designed by Madison's prominent architects.

[3] From Madison's founding in 1836 to the 1850s, what is now the Langdon Street district was a forested ridge west of the bustling little town around the capitol square.

But Clark foresaw that this picturesque ridge of good, well-drained land would one day be in demand for house lots in a city beset by swamps and marshes on an already small isthmus between two large lakes.

Gorham's sawmill at the end of Lake Street had been replaced around 1860 by Mendota Agricultural Works, which became Madison Manufacturing Company, and did well until the Panic of 1873.

Built in 1874, it stands 2.5 stories with low-pitched roofs with wide eaves supported by paired brackets, with tall windows and brick and stucco walls.

This house is clad in cream brick, with tall windows and a mansard-roofed tower above the front entrance, topped with metal cresting.

[7][3] The Frederick Jackson Turner house at 629 N Frances St was built in 1893, in generally Queen Anne style, with a complex roof, a tower, and a porch facing the lake.

He was interested in North African culture and built a Moorish-styled study in the attic, with a stained glass skylight and dark, carved wall panels.

John B. Winslow was an attorney and judge who was appointed to the state Supreme Court in 1891, shortly before he built this house, and became Chief Justice in 1907.

[11][3] The Dean John and Phoebe Johnson house at 626 N Henry St was built in 1902, designed by Claude & Starck as a modest Queen Anne-styled building but with some influence of Prairie Style showing in the broad eaves, the Sullivanesque terra cotta panels on the porch columns, and the George Maher-esque arch-topped dormer.

[12][3] The Frank and Mary Brown house at 28 Langdon St is a Colonial Revival structure built in 1905, 2.5 stories, clad in brick with corner quoins, with dentils under the eaves and cornice returns.

[15][3] The Kappa Sigma fraternity house at 124 Langdon St was designed by Frank Riley in classic Georgian Revival style and built in 1923.

[17][3] The Villa Maria at 615 Howard Place is an apartment building designed by Frank Riley in Spanish Colonial Revival style and built 1925-26.

The style is Tudor Revival, with the outside clad in rough limestone blocks, stone tabs around casement windows, and a steeply pitched roof.

Quite distinctive, the style is Dutch Colonial Revival, with shaped parapets on the end gables and dormers, corner quoins, and a classical entrance with pilasters, frieze, and pediment.

[20][3] The Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity house at 260 Langdon St was designed by Frank Riley in Georgian Revival style and built in 1926.