Laid out before the advent of automobiles, the Bassett Neighborhood's streets render it a cornerstone of Madison's old city - that part of town that European cities call their vieille ville. Eminently walkable, these streets are lined by stately old Victorian homes (some divided into apartments, others renovated by residents determined to return them to their glory days after decades of neglect by tenants and landlords) and an outburst of recent condo projects (ranging from the Fourth Ward Lofts and Prairie-style Bedford Court to Metropolitan Place, Meriter Retirement Community and the gleaming Nolen Shore tower). Bassett's residents find everything close at hand: work, play, dining, entertainment, even recreation for their dogs in the neighborhood's pocket-sized dog park.

Covering the southwest flanks of the Capitol's hill, this neighborhood is home to students and professors, empty-nesters and full-fledged retirees, hippies and yuppies, vagrants and professionals, and to creative-class entities ranging from the Wisconsin Humanities Council to the funky listener-sponsored and volunteer-driven radio station WORT-FM. It exudes a vibrant, colorful vibe that is just rough enough around the edges to stop it short of gentrified. >More