The impact of state government and state buildings on Madison’ downtown is obvious in this 1986 aerial photograph of the three GEFs (General Executive Facilities) by Joseph W. Jackson III for the Wisconsin State Journal. Behind the GEF buildings are the Tenney Building and Firstar’s “Glass Bank.”

We want the heart of the capital city to remain lively, varied, useful and convenient. A plan that permits a large number of civil servants to work, live and play in the heart of the city will do much to achieve these goals. However, these goals will not be reached if downtown state office facilities are built without adequate regard for the effect of these facilities on the total metropolitan area, their immediate neighborhoods or the people who work in them . . . . This type of development would turn some of our most strategic and attractive land into a monotonous, uncomfortable and inconvenient environment used much too intensively eight or nine hours a day and dead as a door nail fifteen or sixteen hours. Capital Community Citizens, 1970

Capital Community Citizens | Capital Square | Capitol, view | <Firstar Bank | GEF 1 | GEF 2 | GEF 3 | Jackson, Joseph III (Photographer)