709 N 6th ST

Summary

Zion Lutheran Church
709 North 6th Street. Wausau, Marathon County
Date of Construction: 1953
Architect: Frank A. Abramhamson; Erhard Stoettner: (stained glass)

Zion Lutheran Church is as a very good example of the Late Gothic Revival style as executed on a mid-twentieth century house of worship. Designed by Frank A. Abrahamson of Minneapolis, Minnesota and built in 1953, the cruciform church is constructed of both Stevens Point sandstone and Indiana limestone. In addition to its masonry construction, the church’s character-defining features include its steeply pitched rooflines finished with terra cotta tile, irregular massing, and Gothic- (or pointed-) arch windows and doors with stone quoining, as well as parapet endwalls with stone coping and modest buttressing. The windows, most of which are elaborated with stone tracery, feature brightly colored stained glass created by noted craftsman Erhard Stoettner of the T.C. Esser Company of Milwaukee. Additional interior finishes include handmade ceramic floor tile handcrafted by the Nemadji Tile and Pottery Company of Moose Lake, Minnesota; wooden roof trusses and ceiling beams; along with a significant amount of original wooden church furniture produced by the Ossit Church Furniture Company of Janesville, Wisconsin. Although a small, one-story elevator addition was constructed at the northwest corner of the church in 1995, it was executed with the same materials as the original block and did little to alter the church’s original design.

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