1881 Observatory at U. of Wisconsin at Madison Gets Makeover
The University of Wisconsin at Madison's Washburn Observatory, opened in 1881, will reopen Friday after a two-year, $2.5-million renovation that preserved the Italianate building's historic 15.6-inch refractor telescope while creating office and classroom space for a university honors program.
The renovation, overseen by Isthmus Architecture, involved making the building's basement and main level accessible to people with disabilities, according to a university news release. But the telescope itself could not be made accessible without significantly changing the appearance of the building, which is on both the National Register of Historic Places and a similar state list. The university is exploring a system that would project images from the telescope on monitors in an accessible room.
Read entire article at The Chronicle of Higher Education
The renovation, overseen by Isthmus Architecture, involved making the building's basement and main level accessible to people with disabilities, according to a university news release. But the telescope itself could not be made accessible without significantly changing the appearance of the building, which is on both the National Register of Historic Places and a similar state list. The university is exploring a system that would project images from the telescope on monitors in an accessible room.