Despite Madison’s setting among picturesque lakes with miles of scenic shoreline, the number of year-round waterfront dining establishments where you can linger over food and drink while enjoying the view is surprisingly low. There’s the Memorial Union Terrace, the Edgewater, and…well, you tell me. You can probably count them on one hand while holding your beer with the other.

Now, the nonprofit group that operates Monona’s San Damiano Park is seeking to optimize a bucolic lakeshore setting and sweeping views of the Capitol skyline to create a dining, event and recreational venue where the historic Frank Allis house now stands vacant.

“There's really no destination on Lake Monona, unless you're an Elks Club member, or you're stopping at the East Side Club to the Tiki Bar, for anyone to pull a boat up, come ashore, have a meal, and enjoy the sunset,” says Cara Erickson of Monona, executive director of the Friends of San Damiano. “Building out San Damiano as that destination...could possibly be a game changer for Lake Monona and our community.”

Friends of San Damiano, which maintains the site for the city of Monona as a public park, plans to repurpose the 1893 Frank Allis house to include daily food and beverage service, with indoor seating and an outdoor terrace designed to create “signature moments” around evening sunsets. Trails and natural play areas within the park’s densely wooded 10 acres are also envisioned. Transportation access will be improved for cars, pedestrians and bicycles, and a pier on Lake Monona will allow visitors to access the property by boat.

The plan stipulates that the park will eventually be renamed. It was dubbed “San Damiano” by the religious order that leased the property as a retreat and residence for retired priests.

“This approach honors the historic significance of the Frank Allis House while adapting it to meet contemporary community needs,” the friends group says in documents submitted to the Monona city council in April.

The conceptual plans, approved April 20 by the Monona City Council but still contingent on  private fundraising, address a question left unresolved in a master plan created after the city bought the property in 2021: What will become of the distinctive but dilapidated Allis house?

Heavily modified by a succession of occupants, the building retains much of its historic character but currently lacks heat, accessible restrooms or drinking water. The paved but crumbling driveway — “two horses and a carriage wide,” as Erickson puts it — is too narrow for vehicles, bikes and pedestrians to share, and impractical for trash and recycling trucks.

But after observing how visitors engaged with the property — on casual twilight strolls, or during community events like summer biergartens and festivals — Friends of San Damiano concluded that rehabilitating the house is preferable to replacing it, and the time to start is now.

You might say San Damiano is pressing the “past forward” button.

Monona Mayor Nancy Moore, who advocated the city’s purchase of San Damiano as a member of the city council in 2021, believes it’s the right approach. “I’m in favor of keeping the house, and believe when rehabbed, it will reflect the best of the property’s value and mission,” she says.

Wes Mosman Block, a Monona resident who serves as the friends group’s president, says it is possible to improve the property while maintaining its landmark-caliber qualities — potentially qualifying it for federal historic preservation tax credits. The Allis house has been designated a local landmark, but does not have state or federal historic status.

“Certain elements of the interior and the exterior will need to be restored, but it's with modern functions in mind,” Block says. “We looked at the idea of designing for daily use [but] not overdesigning or overbuilding. We want to maintain the serene nature of the property.”

And yet, Block, whose day job is chief operating officer of the Wisconsin Historical Society, says the friends group’s plans would still be viable without those tax credits — if the money can be raised elsewhere.

The need for private donors is one reason that the group decided to accelerate its timetable for the Allis house from the end of a multiyear, multiphase process to the beginning.

“When you talk about the money we're going to need to realize the plan, we will need to build a larger constituency of people with a connection to the property. The improved access, amenities, and infrastructure are essential," Block says.

The friends group plans to seek proposals from potential food and beverage partners to lease and operate the dining space.

During the public input phase of the San Damiano planning process, which included surveys and focus groups with community members, Ho-Chunk Nation representatives, potential park users, and other stakeholders, food and beverage options received mixed reviews. One local resident said, “It's possible to get beer and coffee and sandwiches all up and down Monona Drive, but it's very hard to find tranquility anywhere but at [San Damiano].”

The latest conceptual plans attempt to strike a balance between tranquility and activity.

“One of the best ways to build community is through food,” Erickson says. “If we are creating a space that the public views as a gem, that becomes a destination where people want to go, the number one way to do that would be to offer a space where they can share a meal and share time together.”

How much this will cost, and what the final details will look like, will become clearer as planning proceeds. Monona officials have vowed that no local tax dollars will be allocated beyond the $8.6 million the city borrowed to purchase San Damiano in 2021. City council approval of the latest conceptual plans is required because, although operated and funded privately, San Damiano is still publicly owned.

What is known at this point, Erickson says, is that the cost of rehabilitating the house would be less than demolishing and replacing it with a new facility.

“This is also the fastest timeline to activating the park and building revenue streams that propel our mission forward. Adding a four-season event facility is not out of the question and can be realized when both funding and time allow,” Erickson says.

Meanwhile, San Damiano is “open to enjoy,” as the signs along Monona Drive say, and will offer an expanded program of outdoor events in 2026 — including spring lawn games, summer biergartens rebranded as “Concerts on the Shore,” and the return of the Harry Whitehorse International Wood Sculpture Festival in June.

The author created a video of the Frank Allis house for the Friends of San Damiano in 2023.