| Additional Information: | 2018 survey report information: This “Modified Prairie”-style home is sheathed with both limestone and pecky cypress and is dominated by a circular, living room projection that features floor-to-ceiling windows. Living quarters are located above the garage wing to the north, while a single-story wing extends to the south. Based on an historic postcard image of the home, the house appears to have seen little in the way of exterior alteration since it was built.
Designed by Russell Barr Williamson, this house was built in 1960 for John S. and Evelyn Rosemurgy. John was born in 1913 in Michigan and wed Evelyn Gilbertson in 1937; together they had three sons and a daughter. In 1940, John and his brother Stuart purchased the local Ford agency in Wausau from Peter J. Portman and established Rosemurgy Motors, which was first located at 4th and Forest streets (no longer extant). Although never built, Williamson also designed a building for his car dealership. In addition to John’s work associated with the car dealership, he served as a board director of the Salvation Army and was a member of the Wausau Elks Club, Wausau Club and the local Lions Club. John died in 1981. Evelyn, an active Woman’s Club member, remained in the home until at least 1990. She died in 2009. |
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| Bibliographic References: | Citations for 2018 survey below: Historic postcard image of the Rosemurgy house is included in Russell Barr Williamson Jr., comp., Russell Barr Williamson, Architect…A Collection...(Hot Springs, N.C.: The Barr Brand, 2000), 109.
Advertisement, Rosemurgy’s, in the Wausau Daily Record-Herald, 30 June 1972, Centennial Edition, 7; “John Rosemurgy, Area Auto Dealer, Dies,” The Daily Herald (Wausau-Merrill, Wis.), 2 October 1981, 12/1; Image and brief information included in Donald M. Aucutt, Mary Jane Uecker Hettinga and Kathleen Jansen, Wausau Beautiful: A Guide to Our Historic Architecture (Wausau, WI: Friends of Wausau Historic Landmarks, 2nd ed., 2010), 158. |
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