High Quality Unique Home in a Remarkable Location Adjacent to U.W. Campus

Description

We are looking for a professor, doctor or executive manager and/or their families who can appreciate the value this unique historic property for its adjacency to the U.W. Campus and view the festivities associated with Badger football games as a positive and not a serious inconvenience. We are not looking for, nor will we allow the property to be rented out to students as a party home. We recently purchased the James A. Graaskamp House to preserve and restore this historically significant property. Professor Graaskamp taught real estate at the UW-Madison from 1964 to 1988 and was chairman of the Real Estate Department from 1968 until his sudden death in 1988. During his career Professor Graaskamp was a leader in real estate analysis. Authorities still consider his “A Guide to Feasibility Analysis” to be the treatise on the subject; and most institutional investors regard his discourse on portfolio management theory for real properties to be their guideline. Experts considered him the preeminent applied real estate scholar whose multi-disciplined teaching methods and explanations of the complex and dynamic world of real estate were remarkably eloquent and provided clear testimony to his formidable intellect and impressive creative writing talent. Jim Graaskamp took a deep personal interest in his students and was more at home with them than the facility and university administrators. In the classroom he passed on knowledge by means of a demanding curriculum and a punishing workload. His lectures combined theory with real world examples, often via a "war story" interspersed with his humor and quick wit. He was an often an outspoken critic of local and national land use policies who never shied away from controversies and backed up his positions with irrefutable facts. Donna Shalala, the UW-Madison chancellor at the time of his death, said in a statement “Jim Graaskamp was one of the most dedicated and gifted teachers in the history of the university, a towering figure in his field, he leaves his mark on a generation of students who were rigorously trained and filled with his enthusiasm for improving the quality of our built physical environment. The entire university mourns his loss, and I will personally miss his wise counsel.” Jim also taught some especially important lessons beyond the classroom. He was a noted high school football player, stricken with polio at the age of 17, who became a 6-foot 6 inch 250-pound quadriplegic professor who turned lecture notes with a stick held in his teeth, he dismissed his physical condition as a materials handling problem. He pursued life with unbridled enthusiasm, energy, curiosity, and courage. His positive outlook and lack of self-pity were living testimony to the potential of the human spirit. His refusal to be limited in any way by his physical condition made lasting impressions on anyone who saw James A Graaskamp in action. In 1964, the same year he completed his PhD in risk management and real estate, Jim engaged the Architectural firm of Peters & Martinson to design a two-story International Style home to fit his lifestyle and personality. As such, the home included innovative features, well ahead of their time for handicap access, energy conservation, functional utility, all combined with a bold, simple but elegant aesthetic. The lower level was designed as a 2-bedroom 2 bath unit to house Jim's personal attendants. This unit is currently rented to a visiting international scholar and can be available in the future for renters if they have an extended family need.