SWAP Shop to sell stowed-away state Capitol fixtures

Vintage fixtures cast off from a renovation of the Wisconsin State Capitol will be made available on May 14 during a unique sale managed by the University of Wisconsin–Madison SWAP Shop.

Included in the sale will be items such as doors, windows, globes and wood trim that are mostly remnants of the third incarnation of the Wisconsin Capitol, circa 1906-1917. The materials have been in storage since the decade-long Capitol restoration and rehabilitation project was completed in 2003.

Tim Sell, manager of SWAP (or “Surplus with a Purpose”), says the auction will ultimately save the state money, since long-term storage of this much material is costly. SWAP has conducted surplus property sales for numerous state agencies in addition to UW–Madison, but few have the cache of “owning a piece of the Capitol,” Sell says.

“You’ll never find anything like this again,” Sell says. “The state has no use for the materials. It really needed to have something done with it while it still has value.”

About three truckloads of the material arrived at the SWAP Shop, 2102 Wright Street, this week from the long-term storage warehouse on Madison’s east side. Most of the material will be on sale at the SWAP warehouse on Saturday, but other items of greater value will be sold through an online auction.

Included in that distinctive category are doors that still bear the names of senators and representatives; and large entrance doors with leather trim. “You could just imagine all the people who have touched those doors over the years, yet they’ve held up very well,” he says.

Sell notes that the Wisconsin State Historical Society conducted a thorough review of the stored materials and removed selected items of historical importance for its archives. While the rest was deemed “surplus,” Sell notes that both the quality and origin of many of the fixtures will make meaningful keepsakes.