Nottingham
From LothWiki
Nottingham Cooperative is a 21 room independent housing cooperative located at 146 Langdon St in Madison, Wisconsin, on the shore of Lake Mendota. The house was incorporated in February 1971 by a group of lawyers and students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Currently, the membership is composed of a mix of about 20 students and non-students. Unlike many other housing cooperatives near the campus area, Nottingham is not part of the Madison Community Cooperative. Former and Current residents of Nottingham sometimes refer to themselves as "Hamsters."
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History of 146 Langdon
The Old Address: 1892-1926
In those days, there was a house on Langdon Street with the 146 address. It was owned by the Steenslands from 1892-1897, the Tenneys from 1902-1916, and Alpha Chi Omega Sorority from 1917-1926, after which it became a different address when the current 146 was built.
The Current Address: Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity 1927-1939
The current 146 Langdon was originally built in 1927 for the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity by Kansas architect Clarence E. Shepard (1869 - 1949,) in the Mediterranean Revival style of architecture. At that time, this Spanish style was popular on the west coast, especially in Hollywood, but rare in the Midwest. Nottingham's tile roof is one of the more obvious features of Mediterranean Revival. Construction began in 1926, although the house was not to become occupied until 1928.
(Excerpt from an article about Shepard): From 1902 to 1905, Shepard was employed as a draftsman in the Oak Park studio of Frank Lloyd Wright. (In 1989, this connection to Wright could not be verified, but by 1998 Shepard was being listed by the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio Foundation as one of those who had been employed there.) The years with Wright would prove to be a defining moment for the young architect, as in future years he would become the foremost designer of houses in the Prairie Style in the Kansas City area.
In 1926, Shepard’s first wife died, and he subsequently married Arabell White Hemingway, the widow of Alfred Tyler Hemingway. In 1928 the Shepards moved to a new house in Mission Hills, at 5440 State Line Road. This new residence eschewed the Prairie Style for more fashionable English precedents, but there was still more of the Arts and Crafts than Tudor Revival to the green-tiled structure. Among the many visitors to the new house was the young Ernest Hemingway, the nephew of Mrs. Shepard’s first husband. In his later years, in addition to his interests in architecture and Indian basketry, Shepard became an acknowledged expert in oriental carpets and an accomplished amateur painter. Influenced by the California plein air painter William Keith, his work was exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Kansas City Art Institute.
(Another article): By 1922 Alfred Tyler was serving as secretary and general manager of the Forest Lumber Co. If he was the "successful" Hemingway, he also looked the part. A 1922 photograph captures his strong, handsome face and striking gray hair. He died that same year, of pneumonia, at age 44. He is buried in Mount Washington Cemetery in Independence. Not long after, a gymnasium bearing Alfred Tyler's name was built on what is today the Wornall campus of the Pembroke Hill School. "My grandmother gave that to (the former Sunset Hill School for girls) in memory of her first husband," said Jean Arabell Gordon Dibble, a Kansas City granddaughter of Alfred Tyler. Today the building, still bearing Alfred Tyler's name on its facade, h ouses a theater and art gallery. Dibble's grandmother, meanwhile -- familiar to Ernest Hemingway students as "Aunt Arabell" -- stood in no one's shadow. In 1916 President Woodrow Wilson appointed her to direct local food conservation efforts. ("Aunt Arabel is doing lots of Food conservation work and is quite high up in the Food ring," Ernest wrote home on Nov. 19, 1917.) Arabell also was president of the local consumers league in the early 1920s and helped establish pure milk laws. In 1927 Arabell married Clarence Shepard, a Kansas City architect who designed many homes in the Kansas City's Country Club district, as well as the Alfred Tyler Hemingway gymnasium. By 1928, when Ernest Hemingway was looking for a comfortable place for his wife, Pauline, to deliver her first child (his second), Kansas City and Aunt Arabell apparently proved a more attractive option than Oak Park and his own family. "If she were alive today, she would be very relieved and proud of Ernest's success," said Dibble of her grandmother. Yet even in the face of her nephew's obvious success, Arabell disapproved of some of the author's habits. Dibble can still recall once seeing the author's face on the cover of Life magazine and then asking her grandmother about Ernest Hemingway. "My grandmother," Dibble said, "said, 'Yes, darling, Ernest Hemingway is part of our family, but he drinks and swears and likes women and has never gone to college.' "
Phi Sigma Delta 1940-1942
In 1940, for reasons unknown, Phi Sigma Delta, a Jewish fraternity, aquired the house from Sigma Phi Epsilon. With U.S. entry into World War II in 1942, most men of college age joined or were drafted into the armed forces. Phi Sigma Delta (among others) became inactive at this time. The building then became the Shoreland House, an all female dormitory which occupied the building until 1952. The Shoreland girls allowed the newly reactivated Phi Sigma Delta fraternity to take their 1946 yearbook photo in the living room while they searched for a new house.
Shoreland House 1943-1952
In 2005 we had some visitors who once lived at 146 when it was called Shoreland House. One was the daughter of the housemother, whom all the girls called "Aunt Rose." Lou Rappaport owned Shoreland House from 1943 on. It was a girls' private residence; "the boys" had gone off to war. Next door was Pi Lambda Phi, and across the way were the Bachelor Apartments. They told us about the wedding that took place here in 1947, and we told them all about the wedding we had here in 2003. The Shoreland Women were very good about taking a neat group photo in the living room every year, unlike all of the other groups who lived here, including ourselves.
Pi Lambda Phi 1952-1970
March 25, 1952, Shoreland House was sold by its owner, Louis Rapaport, to the Omega chapter of Pi Lambda Phi, another Jewish fraternity, then at 615 N Henry St. Occupancy by the fraternity began in September, after the summer session. Mrs. "Aunt Rose" Benjamin, Shoreland's housemother since the beginning, had left before school closed in the spring to be married, and apparently her replacement ran into some problems with the organization and supervision of the house.
We know a few things about the Pi Lams: they operated as a house for women during the the summer session, which required them to have a house mother (although living with a house mother was not so appealing to them). They evidently held notorious beach parties in the ball room, importing sand. The Temptations once played in the ballroom in the 60's. At their peak they had the largest membership on campus, averaging over 100 members through 1968, dropping to 64 members in the 1968-1969 academic year. But in 69-70 their total active and pledged members number zero. In 1970, 146 Langdon was listed in the phone book as vacant. In the late sixties, amid the war in Vietnam and many social changes, it became unpopular to live in greek houses, and many new cooperative houses sprang up in their place, among them Nottingham. Anyone who's seen or read "The War at Home" knows that those were turbulent times in a turbulent neighborhood- the bombing of Sterling Hall was planned at Iota Manor, the apartment across from 146.
In 1983 the Pi Lambda Phi was rechartered, and a house was bought in 1985. A 1987 yearbook stated that the Pi Lams were enjoying their 3rd year at this campus, and that throughout the sixties they were "the largest frat around."
Nottingham Coop 1971-
-March 19, 1970: a memorandum from Jeff Moriarty, resident counselor of Pi Lam in 1969, said that "Effective in June of 1970 Pi Lambda Phi will cease to operate as a fraternity and will go into a rooming house situation. Other fraternities are contemplating closing but have not decided one way or another as of this date."
-May 22, 1970: a memorandum went out from the Office of Student Housing listing 146 Langdon, 222 Lakelawn, 616 Mendota Court, and 621 North Lake Street as fratenity buildings now removed from their Certified list and listings of vacancies removed from the available housing, their lodging house licenses suspended.
-August 31, 1970: the Madison Association of Student Co-ops had a meeting: "There was discussion on the three houses that were up for lease-- 130 Langdon , 146 Langdon and 222 Lake Lawn Place... 146 Langdon** would hold 28 people. Owner would want a housefellow. The rooms would be $65 for a single and $50 for half of a double."
-February 1971: The first gas/electric bills with the name "Nottingham Coop" on them.
-February 10, 1971: article in the Daily Cardinal, inviting you to "Truck on down to Madison's brand new co-op, Nottingham", in which it advertises Nottingham as opening up in the old Pi Lamb frat house this week, with room for 24 people plus friends, relatives, and visitors. This means that the name probably came about sometime between August and February.
-March 15, 1971: An MASC said "Nottingham is the new living co-op at 146 Langdon (actually at the end of Iota Court, off Henry). It has Sherwood looking wood beams with member-made art work hiding the frat trophy cases. There's a juke box & some pianos and a big old almost bare attic. Some fine cooperators reside therein; to reach them try 255-7058." Another MASC newsletter from around that time listed Nottingham as "the new one on the lake. Nottingham houses 24 people, coed. The coop is also trying to buy its house so it can remain a coop in September. Communal meals nightly, very good on Tuesdays." Also, from a History of Coops: " Another living coop opened February, 1971, at 146 Langdon in another defunct fraternity building."
(Note: Nottingham's phone number is still 255-7058.)
-June 1, 1971 Milwaukee Journal article bemoaning the late 60's greek tragedy features the Nottingham on its cover.
-March 19, 1973 Wisconsin State Journal article claims 146 Langdon stood vacant for seven months before the coop was formed. That would be consistent with the above evidence if Pi Lambda Phi ceased to operate as a fraternity June 1970 and Nottingham Coop was formed February 1971. Evidence suggests that 146's typical summer vacancy continued beyond August with no intention of continuing the Omega chapter, at which time the most UW students returned and MASC first discussed both among themselves and with the owner the possibility forming a coop there. It's probable that there was some unofficial occupancy (squatting) that fall before official incorporation in February.
-Sunday, July 28, 1991 Co-op Reunion Celebrates Alternative Lifestyle Wisconsin State Journal :: Metro/State :: 1C By Steve Hopkins Wisconsin State Journal. John Koffel was cutting brush Saturday outside of Nottingham Co-op, along the Lake Mendota shore near the top of Langdon Street. He was one of the 25 founders of the housing co-op and lived there in 1971 when it was begun as a kind of experiment in alternative lifestyles. He was one of 60 or more former residents who returned Saturday for the co-op's 20th anniversary reunion. They came from around the country, from as far as both coasts and as near as Madison and Milwaukee. They came, they said, to celebrate the old days, to reminisce, to try to raise a little money for maintenance of the somewhat rundown building. Some came alone. Some brought spouses and children. They characterize themselves as a unique group of people. "Co-op members tended to be invidualistic then and they still are," said Jeanine Wall, a Chicago lawyer and former co-op member. Wall was one of the reunion organizers. "A lot of former members." she said, "have become lawyers, doctors, social workers, therapists and academics. I haven't found a single person among them who works for a Fortune 500 company," she said rather proudly, adding that some of the doctors and lawyers are involved in AIDS research and services. At least two former members have died from AIDS, Koffel said. Wall was a co-op resident from 1971 to 1975. Others among the reunioners were Gage Averill, an ethnomusicoloist from Connecticut, a co-op resident from 1973 to 1976; Phil Musickant, a resident from 1975 to 1977 and again from 1982 to 1984, now a teacher in the Milwaukee public schools; and Michelle Miller, Madison, a public information officer with the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture in Madison and a co-op resident from 1979 to 1984. Koffel, who still lives in Madison and runs Delta Storage at 634 W. Main St., said the building formerly housed a fraternity that was going downhill. "We bought the building for $150,000 on land contract in 1971 and it is almost paid off now." There were campus radicals among the early members, many of them involved in the turbulent anti-war protests of the 1960s and early '70s. "I had long hair and a huge beard then," said the now beardless and neatly trimmed Koffel. "I hardly recognize myself in the old photos now." Nudity among members found the co-op in the news more than once. Members in 1975 found themselves at odds over topless sunbathing with a Christian co-op next door. The issue apparently went unsettled. In 1980 three co-op members were fined $27.50 each on disorderly conduct charges arising out of nude swimming and sunbathing charges. Nudity was not uncommon among co-op members who shared bathrooms and showers in their closed society that one former member said was like entering a different world when he walked into it. Two former co-op members, one male and one female, wandered around in the nude during the reunion Saturday. Nobody appeared to think it was at all unusual. Life among the 23 members who still make up the co-op hasn't changed much through the years, the oldtimers observed. "This always was a unique place where people lived togeher cohesively," Koffel said. The co-op housed as many as 40 members in the beginning. "A lot of the same types who lived here then are still living here now." About half of the co-op members always have been students and half have not. Wall and others remembered debates about who would be allowed membership and who would not. "We always disliked fraternities and sororities because ofthe policies of exclusiveness," she said, "and we ended up doing the same things they did." Other great debates remembered involved bathroom procedures such as whether toilet seats should be left up or down. There were numerous debates about food. The co-op tended toward vegetarianism in the beginning and is strictly vegetarian now. Then there was the great cockroach debate that centered around the use of pesticides, a debate that had both environmental and animal rights ramifications. "But somehow we worked all these things out," Michelle Miller said. "I think we learned a lot here about citizenship and leadership." The reunion will continue through today.
2007- By this time, Nottingham has owned the property over twice as long as any of the previous owners. By 2013, Nottingham will have owned the house longer than all of the previous owners combined.
Events
Over the years Nottingham has hosted many events, usually held in the ballroom. The quinquennial summer alumni reunion and the annual vegetarian Thanksgiving known as Nottingfeast are longstanding traditions at Nottingham. Other events have included fundraisers for the Mifflin Street Cooperative and local politicians, open mike coffeehouses, Radical cheerleading practices, Food Not Bombs cooking sessions, bookclubs, film festivals, breakdancing, Go (board game) clubs, Bingo nights, Yoga sessions, private or semi-private magickal rituals including multiple performances of Aleister Crowleys' Gnostic Mass, local Chapter meetings of such occult lodges as Ordo Templi Orientis, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and the Friary/Apostolic Johannite Church, and the Virgo Slut party. During Easter Holy Week of 2007, Nottingham hosted a series of lectures on magick by Lon Milo Duquette, in co-operation with the Apostolic Johannite Church. Since 2003, the house has participated in a venue/label relationship with local label 23 Productions, through which many Experimental music and Noise bands have played shows. Nottingham collects no money for these shows.
Notable bands that have played at Nottingham include:
- MDC (1983)
- Die Kreuzen (1983)
- Hüsker Dü (1984)
- The Dicks (early 1980's)
- Bikini Kill (1994)
- Wolf Eyes (2003)
- Cock ESP (2003,04)
- Trad, Gras och Stenar (2003)
- Jackie-O Motherfucker (2003)
- No Neck Blues Band (2003)
- Paul Flaherty
- Costes (2003)
- Mirah (2004)
- Andrew Broder a.k.a. Fog
- Eugene Chadbourne (2004)
- Operation: Cliff Clavin (2004)
- Ghost Mice (2004)
- Panicsville (2004)
- Jack Rose (guitarist)|Jack Rose]] (2004)
- Josephine Foster (2004)
- Nautical Almanac (2005)
- Calvin Johnson (2005)
- Finnish Psych-Folk collective (Islaja, Lau Nau, Kuupuu, Kemialliset Ystävät|Tomutonttu, Taikuri Tali) (2005)
- Old Time Relijun (2005)
- Iron Lung (2006)
- Defiance, Ohio (2006)
- Flying Luttenbachers (2006)
- Envy 2006)
- Fuck the Facts (2006)
Notable Madison bands include:
- Killdozer (1983)
- Tar Babies (1983,84)
- Cattle Prod
- Naked Aggression (1992)
- Honor Among Thieves
- Pachinko
- Headpump
- Natty Nation (1999)
- The Buffali
- The Beeves (2004)
- Davenport
- Murder of Crows (2006, among others)
Food Co-op
Membership at Nottingham also includes membership in Nottingham's Food Co-op. The food co-op is currently vegetarian with an emphasis on organic foods, and most food is purchased through the Willy St Co-op, or a local CSA (community supported agriculture) in the summer. Although all house members are part of the food co-op, non-members may also join, pending members' approval. All food co-opers must pay a flat rate each month and prepare dinners according to a set 3-week rotation. These dinners occur Monday through Friday at 6 p.m. and Sunday at 5 p.m.
Membership
A number of chores are expected of Nottingham's house members, including cooking, washing dishes, and cleaning the bathrooms, as well as a particular "workjob" (such as breadbaking, ordering food, and maintenance). Food and house supplies are ordered collectively. Members are also expected to attend house meetings. All policies by which the members govern the house are made at house meetings, ratified by unanimous consensus of all those present at the meeting. Any one person may "block" any motion, making it impossible for a consensus to happen. In practice, an attempt is made during discussion to formulate a motion that no-one will block, and a final block is only asserted when it is clear that no version of the proposal would be acceptable to the blocker.
Members are accepted on a rolling, open room basis. In order to become a member, interested parties must attend four regularly scheduled dinners and then schedule a "membership meeting." The members of the house in attendance then interview the interested party and make a decision to accept or reject the "membershipper."
Notable Alumni "Hamsters"
Kevin Barrett, a University of Wisconsin based Islamic Scholar recently noted for openly advocating a conspiracy theory about the September 11th attacks.
