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OFFICIAL NOTICE AND AGENDA of a meeting of a City Board, Commission, Department Committee, Agency, Corporation, Quasi- Municipal Corporation or Sub-unit thereof.
Notice is hereby given that the HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION of the City of Wausau, Wisconsin will hold a regular or special meeting on the date, time and location shown below.
Meeting of the: HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF WAUSAU Date/Time: Thursday, January 21, 2021 at 4:00 p.m. Location: City Hall (407 Grant Street, Wausau WI 54403) - COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS Linda Tryczak (C), Debra Ryan, Kevin Crooks, Mary Forer, David Oberbeck, Christine Martens, Members: Steve Miller, Brian Mason
AGENDA ITEMS FOR CONSIDERATION (All items listed may be acted upon)
1. Approve the minutes from the November 19, 2020 and December 21, 2020 meetings.
2. Discuss the results of the Common Council meeting regarding landmarking of Grant School.
3. Discuss National Register Nomination for Hotel Wausau (Landmark Apartments) at 221 Scott Street.
4. Discuss 2021 Goals and Objectives for the Commission.
5. Next meeting dates and future agenda items for consideration.
6. Adjournment
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this meeting is being held in person and via teleconference. Members of the media and the public may attend in person, subject to the social distancing rules of maintaining at least 6 feet apart from other individuals, or by calling 1-408-418-9388. The Access Code is 146 823 1563. Individuals appearing in person will either be seated in the Council Chambers or an overfill room, subject to the social distancing rules. Space available will be on a first come, first served basis. All public participants’ phones will be muted during the meeting. Any person wishing to offer public comment who does not appear in person to do so, may e-mail [email protected] with “Historic Preservation Commission public comment” in the subject line prior to the meeting start. All public comment, either by email or in person, will be limited to items on the agenda at this time. The messages related to agenda items received prior to the start of the meeting will be provided to the Chair.
Linda Tryczak - Committee Chairperson
This Notice was posted at City Hall and faxed to the Daily Herald newsroom on 1/14/2021 @ 12:00 p.m. Questions regarding this agenda may be directed to the Planning Department at (715) 261-6760.
In accordance with the requirements of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the City of Wausau will not discriminate against qualified individuals with disabilities on the basis of disability in its services, programs, or activities. If you need assistance or reasonable accommodations in participating in this meeting or event due to a disability as defined under the ADA, please call the Planning Department at (715) 261-6760 or the City’s ADA Coordinator at (715) 261-6620 or e-mail [email protected] at least 48 hours prior to the scheduled meeting or event to request an accommodation.
Distribution List: City Website, Media, Committee Members, Council Members, Hebert, Lenz, Sippel, Schock, Jacobson HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION
Time and Date: Thursday, November 19, 2020 at 6:00 p.m. in the Common Council Chambers of Wausau City Hall Members Present: Linda Tryczak, Debra Ryan, Christine Martens, Steve Miller, Brian Mason Others Present: Brad Lenz, Gary Gisselman, Melissa Engen, Ka Lo, Keith Hilts, Lois Wagner
In compliance with Chapter 19, Wisconsin Statutes, notice of this meeting was posted and transmitted to the Wausau Daily Herald in the proper manner.
Tryczak called the meeting to order at approximately 6:00 p.m. stating that a quorum was present.
Approve the minutes from the September 17, 2020 meeting.
Martens motioned to approve the minutes from the September 17, 2020 meeting. Miller seconded, and the motion carried unanimously 5-0.
PUBLIC HEARING: Discussion and possible action on a landmarking of 500 North 4th Avenue.
Keith Hilts, 222993 Woodsmoke Road, said that he is present to listen and learn about the process. Hilts said that he agrees with the research and that there is historical value. There is a common interest and the school district needs to do its best to educate.
Gary Gisselman, 319 Park Avenue, said that he supports the designation as a landmark. The building does meet the criteria that is outlined in the city ordinance. The school has been a cultural and community resource for 110 years. Gisselman said that the architecture of the building also meets the criteria for landmarking. There is a unique sunroom on the northeast side that was built specifically for the kindergarten rooms. Gisselman urged the commission to landmark the school and said that the consultant’s report speaks to the federal qualifications.
Debra Ryan, 702 Elm Street, said that she owns a house that is 100 years old and is impressed with older homes. Ryan said that the school board administrative building and John Marshall are both over 100 years old and said that if the school board wants to cut down on the number of buildings, it would be appropriate to keep the multi-level buildings. Ryan added that she requested additional financial information from the school district, but did not receive that. This building is worth saving. There is a lot of history and it is one of the most beautiful buildings. Ryan said that the voters soundly said their thoughts by voting no. This building is a gem.
Lois Wagner, 517 North 4th Avenue, said that when she moved here 38 years ago, she was told that if it wasn’t a school, it would go to an estate. Wagner said that this beautiful building is worth saving.
Tyczak closed the public hearing.
Lenz gave a brief presentation on the process for landmarking a building. The criteria for landmarking the building are listed in Chapter 2 of the City of Wausau Municipal Code. If the building is landmarked, a certificate of appropriateness would be required for any alteration, addition or demolition. Lenz said that if this is approved by this committee, it would also need to be approved by Plan Commission and then by Common Council.
Miller said that a lot of people may not know about a lot of the work that has been done to the building. There would be a benefit to be in touch with those people.
Martens said that aside from the emotional aspect, it does meet the criteria for landmarking and the commission needs to move forward. Martens said that if anyone wants to see more stories, there are Historic Preservation Commission November 19, 2020 — Page 2
many posted on the Friends of Wausau Historic Landmarks Facebook page. Martens added that there could be possible tax breaks if the school would be added to the national register.
Ryan motioned to landmark the building at 500 North 4th Avenue. Miller seconded, and the motion carried unanimously 5-0 by roll-call vote. This will go to Plan Commission on December 15th.
Next meeting dates and future agenda items for consideration.
The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, January 21, 2021 at 4:00 p.m.
Adjournment.
The meeting adjourned at approximately 5:30 p.m.
HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION
Time and Date: Monday, December 21, 2020 at 12:00 p.m. in the Common Council Chambers of Wausau City Hall Members Present: Linda Tryczak, Kevin Crooks, Brian Mason, Steve Miller Others Present: Brad Lenz, William Hebert, Randy Williams, Rod Cox
In compliance with Chapter 19, Wisconsin Statutes, notice of this meeting was posted and transmitted to the Wausau Daily Herald in the proper manner.
Tryczak called the meeting to order at approximately 12:00 p.m. stating that a quorum was present.
Certificate of Appropriateness for 630 North 3rd Street.
Rod Cox said that they are trying to work with the existing building and opening up the windows to bring in more day light.
Crooks asked what materials will be used for the storefront and north façade. Cox said that a granite base will be used. Randy Williams added that it will be very similar to the CVA building. Crooks asked if the existing brick would remain. This was confirmed. Crooks asked if the windows would be replaced on the upper level. Williams said that some may and there is the intent to clean the brick and tuck point near the Grant Street entrance. The canopy shown is an option and there is preference to do something on the alley side.
Lenz asked about the type of material that will be used at the entrance on 3rd Street. Williams said that he could provide samples to the committee, if needed, and added that they are looking at material that can be easily replaced if there is graffiti or damage. Lenz confirmed that it would not be vinyl siding. Williams said vinyl will not be used and that red granite would be located on the lower base which is local and has durability. Lenz said that he likes the planned improvements overall.
Hebert questioned the change to the storefront doors. Cox answered that the change was for handicap accessibility.
Miller motioned to approve the Certificate of Appropriateness for 630 North 3rd Street. Crooks seconded, and the motion carried unanimously 4-0.
Adjournment.
The meeting adjourned at approximately 12:15 p.m.
The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, January 13, 2021.
NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 10024-0018
Wisconsin Word Processing Format (Approved 1/92)
United States Department of Interior National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations for individual properties and districts. See instructions in How to Complete the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form (National Register Bulletin 16A). Complete each item by marking "x" in the appropriate box or by entering the information requested. If an item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "N/A" for "not applicable." For functions, architectural classification, materials, and areas of significance, enter only categories and subcategories from the instructions. Place additional entries and narrative items on continuation sheets (NPS Form 10-900A). Use a typewriter, word processor, or computer, to complete all items.
1. Name of Property
historic name Hotel Wausau other names/site number Landmark Apartments
2. Location
street & number 221 Scott Street N/A not for publication city or town Wausau N/A vicinity state Wisconsin code WI county Marathon code 139 zip code 54403-4858
3. State/Federal Agency Certification
As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended, I hereby certify that this X nomination _request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property X meets does not meet the National Register criteria. I recommend that this property be considered significant nationally statewide X locally. ( See continuation sheet for additional comments.)
Signature of certifying official/Title Date
State Historic Preservation Office - Wisconsin State or Federal agency and bureau
In my opinion, the property meets does not meet the National Register criteria. (See continuation sheet for additional comments.)
Signature of commenting official/Title Date
State or Federal agency and bureau
Hotel Wausau Marathon Wisconsin Name of Property County and State
4. National Park Service Certification I hereby certify that the property is: entered in the National Register. See continuation sheet. determined eligible for the National Register. See continuation sheet. determined not eligible for the National Register. See continuation sheet. removed from the National Register. other, (explain:)
Signature of the Keeper Date of Action
5. Classification Ownership of Property Category of Property Number of Resources within Property (check as many boxes as (Check only one box) (Do not include previously listed resources as apply) in the count) X private X building(s) contributing noncontributing public-local district 1 buildings public-State structure sites public-Federal site 1 structures object objects 1 1 total
Name of related multiple property listing: Number of contributing resources (Enter "N/A" if property not part of a multiple property previously listed in the National Register listing.) N/A 0
6. Function or Use
Historic Functions Current Functions (Enter categories from instructions) (Enter categories from instructions)
DOMESTIC/hotel DOMESTIC/multiple dwelling COMMERCE/specialty store COMMERCE/restaurant COMMERCE/specialty store
7. Description
Architectural Classification Materials (Enter categories from instructions) (Enter categories from instructions)
LATE 19TH AND EARLY 20TH CENTURY foundation CONCRETE REVIVALS/Classical Revival walls BRICK, LIMESTONE, TERRA COTTA
roof SYNTHETIC, METAL other GLASS, IRON, WOOD, ALUMINUM, STEEL
Narrative Description (Describe the historic and current condition of the property on one or more continuation sheets.)
Hotel Wausau Marathon Wisconsin Name of Property County and State
8. Statement of Significance
Applicable National Register Criteria Areas of Significance (Mark "x" in one or more boxes for the criteria (Enter categories from instructions) qualifying the property for the National Register listing.) ARCHITECTURE
A Property is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history.
B Property is associated with the lives of persons significant in our past. Period of Significance X C Property embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction 1925 or represents the work of a master, or possesses
high artistic values, or represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components lack individual distinction.
D Property has yielded, or is likely to yield, Significant Dates information important in prehistory or history. 1925
Criteria Considerations (Mark "x" in all the boxes that apply.)
Property is: Significant Person (Complete if Criterion B is marked) A owned by a religious institution or used for religious purposes. N/A
B removed from its original location.
C a birthplace or grave. Cultural Affiliation
D a cemetery. N/A
E a reconstructed building, object, or structure.
F a commemorative property. Architect/Builder
G less than 50 years of age or achieved Holabird & Roche significance within the past 50 years.
Narrative Statement of Significance (Explain the significance of the property on one or more continuation sheets.)
Hotel Wausau Marathon Wisconsin Name of Property County and State
9. Major Bibliographic References
(Cite the books, articles, and other sources used in preparing this form on one or more continuation sheets.)
Previous Documentation on File (National Park Service): Primary location of additional data: X preliminary determination of individual X State Historic Preservation Office listing (36 CFR 67) has been requested Other State Agency previously listed in the National Federal Agency Register Local government previously determined eligible by University the National Register Other designated a National Historic Name of repository: landmark recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey # recorded by Historic American Engineering Record #
10. Geographical Data
Acreage of Property less than 1 acre.
UTM References (Place additional UTM references on a continuation sheet.)
1 16T 292703.47 4981920.41 3 Zone Easting Northing Zone Easting Northing
2 4 Zone Easting Northing Zone Easting Northing See Continuation Sheet
Verbal Boundary Description (Describe the boundaries of the property on a continuation sheet)
Boundary Justification (Explain why the boundaries were selected on a continuation sheet)
11. Form Prepared By
name/title: Gabrielle Begue, Senior Associate Organization: MacRostie Historic Advisors date September 2020 street & number 614 Gravier Street telephone 504-655-9707 city or town New Orleans state LA zip code 70130
Hotel Wausau Marathon Wisconsin Name of Property County and State
Additional Documentation Submit the following items with the completed form:
Continuation Sheets
Maps A USGS map (7.5 or 15 minute series) indicating the property's location. A sketch map for historic districts and properties having large acreage or numerous resources.
Photographs Representative black and white photographs of the property.
Additional Items (Check with the SHPO or FPO for any additional items)
Property Owner Complete this item at the request of SHPO or FPO.)
name/title Scott R. Williams, President organization Wausau Landmark Corp. Date September 2020 street & number 1020 Sturgeon Eddy Road telephone (715) 573-7788 city or town Wausau state WI zip code 54403
Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: This information is being collected for applications to the National Register of Historic Places to nominate properties for listing or determine eligibility for listing, to list properties, and to amend existing listings. Response to this request is required to obtain a benefit in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended (16 U.S.C. 470 et seq.).
Estimated Burden Statement: Public reporting burden for this form is estimated to average 18.1 hours per response including time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining data, and completing and reviewing the form. Direct comments regarding this burden estimate or any aspect of this form to the Chief, Administrative Services Division, National Park Service, P.O. Box 37127, Washington, DC 20013-7127; and the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reductions Projects, (1024-0018), Washington, DC 20503. Form 10-900-a
Wisconsin Word Processing Format (Approved 1/92)
United States Department of the Interior National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet
Hotel Wausau Section 7 Page 1 Wausau, Marathon County, Wisconsin
Summary
The Hotel Wausau, 221 Scott Street, in downtown Wausau, Marathon County, Wisconsin, is an eight-story, Classical Revival-style urban commercial hotel completed in 1925 according to the design of Chicago architecture firm Holabird & Roche. Its narrow rectangular footprint historically accommodated 257 guest rooms, eight ground-floor retail stores, and several guest amenities, including a spacious reception lobby and lounge, a hotel coffee shop and barber shop, and a large dining room and ballroom. The terrain slopes down from east to west, revealing the basement level along the west portion of the façade. Rising above the eighth story is a three-story stepped penthouse containing mechanical and work rooms. The fireproof building is constructed of a reinforced- concrete and steel frame clad in cream-toned brick and limestone with a polished-granite base and limestone and terra-cotta trim. Interior partitions are hollow-clay tile covered with plaster. The primary, north-facing façade fronting on Scott Street demonstrates the building’s Classical tripartite arrangement, with a double-height limestone-clad base, a brick-clad shaft comprising stories two through eight, and an ornamental parapet- wall “capital” consisting of a projecting glazed terra cotta dentil cornice and a glazed terra cotta balustrade with a wide, central pediment. The majority of windows are historic one-over-one double-hung wood sashes with terra cotta sills and flat-arch brick lintels. Other character-defining exterior features include symmetrical fenestration on the street-facing facades; brick quoins; arched openings; ornamental ironwork such as grilles, mullions, and hoods; and terra-cotta ornamentation in the form of paneling, swags and garlands, urns, and cartouches.
Intact historic interior features in the first-floor public spaces of the hotel include the historic double-height volume; original spatial arrangement and circulation components; decorative plaster ceilings with Classical Revival motifs such as egg-and-dart moldings and medallions; stained or painted woodwork; fluted pilasters; arched openings; decorative wood or plaster paneling; and multi-light wood passenger elevator doors. The private upper floors retain double-loaded corridors and elevator lobbies; paneled-wood guest room doors; some plaster walls; some interior guest-room doors; and some fire hose closets.
In the early 1970s, following the hotel’s closure, the guest rooms were reconfigured into ninety-two apartments, that were remodeled with non-historic finishes such as carpeting and ceiling tile. This conversion was compatible with the building’s historic function and facilitated the continued use of the building while preserving the identifying features of the early-twentieth-century urban hotel property type. Other modifications include replacement entry doors on the primary facades, modified storefronts that are set within the historic storefront openings, and the replacement of some windows on the rear (south) façade with aluminum sashes. These minor material changes to the exterior do not substantially alter its Classical Revival design. The building’s interior possesses a high degree of integrity from the period of significance, particularly in the primary public spaces, and thus easily conveys its significant historic function as a hotel. Today, the Hotel Wausau, now known as the “Landmark Building,” continues to serve as an apartment building with seven ground-floor retail units (including a shop in the converted hotel lounge) and a restaurant/bar in the former hotel dining room.
Setting and Site
The Hotel Wausau is located at 221 Scott Street in Wausau, Marathon County, Wisconsin. It is situated three blocks east of the Wisconsin River, which bisects the city of Wausau, and the former Chicago and Northwestern Form 10-900-a
Wisconsin Word Processing Format (Approved 1/92)
United States Department of the Interior National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet
Hotel Wausau Section 7 Page 2 Wausau, Marathon County, Wisconsin
Railroad. U.S. Highway 51 is located about 1.7 miles west of the hotel. Wausau is the county seat of Marathon County and had a population of 39,114 in the 2010 United States Census. It is approximately 150 miles north of Madison and 100 miles west of Green Bay.
The Hotel Wausau is located in downtown Wausau within the original village plat, on the west side of a public square that had been the site of the county courthouse since the 1850s (demolished c. 1955). The immediate area surrounding the hotel is largely characterized by late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century commercial and civic buildings, a few taller early-to-mid twentieth-century commercial buildings, and some modern commercial and multi-family residential construction. At eight stories, the hotel is the tallest building bordering the former county courthouse square. The former courthouse site was landscaped in the 1990s into a public square called “400 Block” and features grass lawns, intersecting concrete pathways, brick-paved pavilions, and a small amphitheater at the south end.
The hotel has a narrow rectangular footprint and dominates the north end of the block, which is bounded by Scott Street to the north, Jefferson Street to the south, N. 2nd Street to the west, and N. 3rd Street to the east. The primary north façade is oriented north towards Scott Street and nearly occupies the full length of the block except for a small, two-story, late-nineteenth-century brick commercial building that abuts its west facade. A concrete sidewalk with inset parking and a concrete curb border the north façade from corner to corner. The east façade faces onto N. 3rd Street and the former county courthouse square. It contains three retail-unit storefronts along the ground floor and is lined by a brick-paved sidewalk. There is no setback between the public rights-of-way and the hotel’s north and east facades. Abutting the east end of the south façade, along N. 3rd Street, is a row of low- rise historic commercial brick buildings. The south and west sides of the block are predominantly filled with a paved surface parking lot that is included within the boundaries of the hotel’s legal parcel and National Register boundary. The paved surface parking lot was initially created in 1962 and re-paved and enlarged in 1980. It is a non-contributing structure.
Exterior (Photos 1-7)
The Hotel Wausau was designed in the Classical Revival style in 1924 by Chicago-based architecture firm Holabird & Roche and completed in 1925. The primary façade of the hotel faces north towards Scott Street and spans nearly the entire block from N. 2nd Street eastward to N. 3rd Street. The eight-story plus basement hotel has a rectangular footprint and a reinforced-concrete and steel frame with structural-tile walls, cream-toned brick cladding, and Bedford limestone trim. Characteristic of the Classical Revival style, the building has a tripartite arrangement with a double-height base clad with Bedford limestone, a brick-clad shaft comprised of stories two through eight, and an ornamental parapet wall consisting of a projecting glazed terra cotta dentil cornice and a glazed terra cotta balustrade, which runs across the full length of the primary north façade and along the east and west facades. A wide triangular pediment rises from the center of the parapet on the north façade and aligns with the location of the main hotel entrance. The corners of the upper facades and the corners of the central projection of the north façade are emphasized by brick quoins. On the roof, set back from the north façade, the hotel rises an additional three stories to form a small, stepped penthouse. Unless otherwise noted, the windows in the building are historic one-over-one double-hung wood sashes with terra cotta sills and flat-arch brick lintels. On the rear Form 10-900-a
Wisconsin Word Processing Format (Approved 1/92)
United States Department of the Interior National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet
Hotel Wausau Section 7 Page 3 Wausau, Marathon County, Wisconsin
south façade of the building are a series of attached two- to four-story flat-roofed brick-clad wings that housed back-of-house functions for the hotel, including a large kitchen, administrative offices, and mechanical rooms.
North façade
The hotel’s symmetrical north façade is visually divided into three portions. (Photos 1-2) The flanking east and west portions are each seven bays wide from stories two through eight. The center portion, which projects slightly, is eight bays wide. The terrain slopes down from east to west, revealing a basement level along the west portion of the façade containing commercial storefronts.
The double-height first story of the north façade has a polished McCloud granite base and is clad with cream- toned ashlar Bedford limestone, which together form the visual “base” of the tripartite arrangement of the building. The east and west portions of the first story each contain four bays, and the center portion has five bays. The four tall rectangular bays in the east portion are topped with ornamental iron lintels in a Classical motif with gilded swans at the corners. From east to west, the first three bays originally featured windows with a wider full- height fixed sash, cast iron mullions, and thin flanking sidelights. The first and third bays retain the fenestration arrangement and iron mullions. They have non-historic fixed plate glass windows in the lower halves, and the upper halves are infilled with metal panels. The second bay retains the historic vertical iron mullions, while the window openings have non-historic metal panel infill. The upper half of the fourth bay retains historic wood-sash multi-light casement windows flanked with wood-sash multi-light sidelights and transom with historic dark glazing. The lower half contains a non-historic aluminum-frame storefront door with sidelight. Historic copper light fixtures are affixed to the wall between the first and second bays and the third and fourth bays. (Photos 3-4)
From east to west, the first two bays in the center portion feature historic round-arch openings with stone surrounds and carved stone jambs. The upper third of both bays contains a historic rectangular wood-sash multi- light casement window with an arched wood-frame multi-light transom above. The lower third contains a carved stone sill, a carved stone spandrel panel with balusters, and basement-level window openings with historic ornamental iron grilles and carved stone corbels. The center (third) bay contains the primary entrance. The round- arch top of the bay is concealed by a non-historic red canvas awning. The bottom of the bay contains non-historic aluminum-framed storefront doors. (Photo 4)
The upper halves of the remaining six bays on the first story each contain a historic wood-frame multi-light casement window set in a round-arch carved stone surround with carved stone jambs, a carved stone sill, and a carved stone spandrel panel with balusters. The lower half of the bay immediately west of the primary entrance, as well as the lower halves of the bays in the west portion of the north façade, are slightly wider to accommodate storefront display windows. The wider lower portions of these bays are an original design feature.
The lower half of the bay immediately west of the primary entrance contains a non-historic two-light fixed aluminum-frame window with a granite sill and a historic ornamental iron lintel hood. The lower half of the next bay to the west contains a historic entrance opening with carved stone panel sidelights. The entrance door is a non-historic single-leaf wood door with a glazed center panel.
Form 10-900-a
Wisconsin Word Processing Format (Approved 1/92)
United States Department of the Interior National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet
Hotel Wausau Section 7 Page 4 Wausau, Marathon County, Wisconsin
From east to west, the lower half of the first bay in the west portion of the north façade contains a non-historic two-light aluminum-frame plate glass window with a historic ornamental iron lintel hood. The lower halves of the remaining bays contain storefronts with recessed non-historic single-leaf entrance doors flanked by non- historic aluminum-frame plate-glass display windows and aluminum-frame transoms. (Photos 4-5)
The second story of the north façade, above the double-height first story, is shorter than the stories above and is similar in design across the full length of the facade. The brick wall portions between the window bays are bordered by glazed terra cotta blocks and decorated with central glazed terra cotta panels featuring floral garlands, wreaths, and swags. A glazed terra cotta lintel course tops the story.
Stories three through eight of the north façade comprise the “shaft” of the building. The outer east and west portions are seven window bays wide, and the central projecting portion is eight window bays wide. The central portion is further defined by brick quoining at the edges and a prominent triangular pediment that rises above the parapet wall. All window bays contain historic one-over-one double-hung wood sash windows within flat-arch openings. At the third story, the window bays have terra cotta surrounds with a terra cotta sill course and terra cotta lintels, and terra cotta spandrel panels with turned balusters. The outermost bays on the third story are topped with bracketed triangular terra cotta pediments. The outermost bays on the fourth and seventh stories have terra cotta surrounds with keystones and scrolled jambs, and those on the seventh story also have terra cotta sills with brackets and garlands. The eighth-story window bays across the facade are highly ornamented with glazed terra cotta surrounds with exaggerated corner blocks; the outer bay surrounds also have scrolled lintels. The brick wall surface between each of these window bays is ornamented with a festooned terra cotta garland. The triangular pediment above the central portion has dentil molding and a brick-clad tympanum with a large, centered terra cotta cartouche with garlands and an incised “W” for Wausau. At the parapet wall, a terra cotta balustrade runs the length of the façade and features rectangular openings with inset turned balusters. At the east and west corners are glazed terra cotta panels with wreaths and garlands. Additionally, festooned terra cotta urns align with the outer corners of the central pediment.
East Facade
The east facade of the hotel faces N. 3rd Street. The first story is clad with cream-toned ashlar Bedford limestone and features one long rectangular bay containing three storefronts. Three equally spaced historic copper light fixtures are affixed to the wall above the storefronts. The dimensions of the long rectangular bay opening are original. (Photo 1) The storefronts are topped with a historic iron-framed transom with non-historic glazed panels and metal vents and historic gilded swans at the corners. The south (far left) storefront retains historic granite bulkheads and two historic recessed entrances topped with original curved ornamental iron lintels. The entrance doors are non-historic single-leaf aluminum-frame storefront doors. Non-historic aluminum-frame plate-glass display windows flank the doors. The center storefront contains non-original brick cladding and plate-glass picture window. The historic recessed entrance on the north side of this storefront contains a non-historic single- leaf door. The north (far right) storefront retains historic granite bulkheads and the historic recessed entrance topped with an original curved ornamental iron lintel. The entrance door is non-historic. A non-historic plate glass window is to the north of the door.
Form 10-900-a
Wisconsin Word Processing Format (Approved 1/92)
United States Department of the Interior National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet
Hotel Wausau Section 7 Page 5 Wausau, Marathon County, Wisconsin
The second through the eighth stories of the east façade are six window bays wide. Each bay contains a historic one-over-one double-hung wood window sash within a flat-arch opening. The second and eighth stories are highly ornamented to match the north façade, as are the outer window bays on the third, fourth, seventh, and eighth stories. The brick wall surface between the window bays on the eighth story is ornamented with terra cotta floral swag, as seen on the north façade. The corners of the building from the third through the eighth story are ornamented with brick quoining. Like the north façade, the cornice features terra cotta dentils and a terra cotta balustrade at the parapet with rectangular openings and inset turned balusters.
West facade
The double-height first story of the west façade (N. 2nd Street side) is obscured by a two-part brick commercial building constructed in the late nineteenth century. (Photo 2) The second through eighth stories are visible and are each two window bays wide with regularly spaced flat-arch windows. The second-story window bays are shorter, as seen on the north and east facades. All of the window bays contain historic one-over-one double-hung wood sash windows with terra cotta sills, and none feature the Classical ornamentation present on the north and east facades. The terra cotta dentil cornice continues on this facade. The raised parapet wall is solid, rather than an open balustrade, and clad with glazed terra cotta blocks.
South facade
The south (rear) façade is the least ornamented side of the building. (Photo 7) The exterior is clad with cream- toned brick. A two-to-four story original wing projects from the base and is clad in cream-toned brick with a flat roof and glazed terra cotta coping. The first story of the wing has a series of flat-arch window bays that contain either painted plywood boarding, one-over-one wood sashes, or historic six-light steel-frame sashes. A non- historic metal slab door is located in the seventh bay from the west. Double-leaf non-historic entrance doors are at the east end of the first story. The second story of the wing has a series of flat-arch window openings containing either historic six-light steel-frame sashes or non-historic one-over-one metal-frame windows. A metal fire escape is affixed to the west end of the second story. The third story rises from the center of the wing and has eight window bays containing either historic six-light steel-frame sashes or non-historic one-over-one metal-frame windows. A one-bay-wide fourth story rises from the center of the wing and contains a historic six-light steel- frame sash.
A one-bay-wide enclosed fire escape stairwell clad with non-historic stucco rises the full height of the façade on the west side. The second through eighth stories are each eighteen bays wide. From the west, the tenth bay on all stories corresponds to an interior stairwell and contains a short six-light steel window at each level. The eleventh bay on all stories corresponds to an elevator shaft and contains a metal panel with metal guard grille. All remaining bays contain historic one-over-one wood sash windows with flat-arch brick lintels and stone sills. A penthouse with three staggered stories rises above the eighth story. The base of the penthouse, which historically contained a carpenter shop, is ten bays wide. The next level, which historically contained a tank room, has four bays. The top level, historically a machine room, has two bays. Each bay contains a historic steel sash multi-light window.
An eight-story ell extends to the south on the east side of the rear facade. The west side of the ell has three flat- Form 10-900-a
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arch window bays on each story containing historic one-over-one wood sashes. The southwest and southeast corners of the ell have brick quoining. The south side of the ell has three window bays at each story. The outer bays contain historic one-over-one wood sash windows. The inner bay corresponds to an interior stairwell and contains shorter window openings with six-light steel-frame sashes. A glazed terra cotta dentil cornice ornaments the top of the south elevation of the ell and the raised parapet wall is solid, rather than an open balustrade, and clad with glazed terra cotta blocks.
Interior (Photos 8-22)
The Hotel Wausau was designed to contain a complex arrangement of public and private spaces, including leasable storefronts, public spaces such as a reception lobby, lounge, and dining room, and support rooms such as a kitchen and administrative offices on its first two floors, and private guest rooms lining a double-loaded corridor on the upper stories. In the early 1970s the building was converted from a hotel into a multi-family residential building. The historic spatial relationship of storefronts and public spaces on the first two stories and private rooms on the upper stories is preserved.
Primary circulation among the stories is facilitated through a central stairwell and central elevator bank with two elevator cabs. Each floor has a small elevator lobby with finishes that include non-historic carpeting, historic plaster walls, and historic plaster ceilings (Photos 14, 17, 21). The elevator cab doors on each floor have historic wood surrounds with carved wood panels, and the south passenger elevator cabs have historic painted wood multi- light doors. The enclosed central stairwell next to the elevators has original painted concrete stairs with original steel newel posts and piped handrails (Photo 20). A secondary stairwell is located in the southeast corner of the building. It also has original painted concrete stairs with original steel newel posts and piped handrails. An enclosed exterior fire escape stairwell is located on the southwest side of the building. The historic wood access door to this stairwell is located at the west end of the L-shaped corridor on the upper floors.
In the basement are secondary administrative and mechanical spaces and three retail shops (originally four) along the west portion of the north façade. The basement-level spaces have non-historic finishes (Photo 22). On the first floor, a small vestibule at the primary entrance (in the center of the north façade) has non-historic finishes (Photo 8). The vestibule opens onto a short, carpeted stair with a historic painted-wood handrail with turned wood balusters. The stair leads up to a first-floor landing with original plaster walls and plaster and wood crown molding. Doorways on the south, east, and west sides of the landing retain historic unpainted wood jambs and trim, and decorative carved wood panels above.
The former hotel dining room and club room, accessed from the west side of the landing, has been converted into a public restaurant. The restaurant retains many original finishes, including plaster walls and ornamentation, painted wood segmented-arch window surrounds with scrolled keystones, marble fireplace with plaster ornamentation and mirror above, ornamental plaster panels framing decorative mirrors, and a plaster ceiling with ornate plaster crown molding (Photo 11). A large historic kitchen that served the former hotel dining room is located to the south and used by the restaurant.
The first-floor elevator lobby, accessed from the south side of the entrance landing, retains historic plaster walls Form 10-900-a
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and plaster egg and dart crown molding. The elevator bank has two cabs – a south passenger cab and a north freight cab. The south passenger cab retains a historic wood surround with a decorative wood carved panel, a historic metal light fixture, and historic wood and glass elevator doors with metal panels with raised “W” letters. The former hotel lounge, located on the east side of the first-floor landing, is now a shop accessed from an exterior entrance on the north façade. The room retains its historic height and columns topped with molded-plaster capitals (Photo 10).
The historic public lobby, accessed from the east side of the first-floor elevator lobby, is preserved. The double- height volume of space and the dimensions of the room are retained, as is the historic unpainted-wood wall ornamentation, which includes fluted Ionic pilasters and scrolled pedimented door surrounds (Photo 12). The highly ornate plaster ceiling has modillions, egg and dart molding, recessed paneling, and plaster rosettes with historic electrified brass chandeliers. Upper-level wood-trimmed balconettes at the second story overlook the lobby below (Photo 15). The historic reception desk is located on the south side of the lobby and has non-historic wood and glazing that replaced the original marble. Two short sets of historic marble stairs lead down from the east side of the lobby to a north-south corridor with rear entrances to three commercial spaces along the east side of the building. Historically there were four commercial spaces, but the two south stores were combined into one space at an unknown date. These leased units have non-historic finishes.
The second floor retains its historic layout, which consists of the elevator lobby in the center of the floor plate, the upper level of the public lobby and a writing room in the center and to the southeast, and an L-shaped double- loaded corridor lined with private rooms. The elevator lobby has non-historic carpeting, historic plaster walls with historic wood ornamentation such as fluted pilasters, and a historic plaster ceiling with crown molding (Photo 14). The elevator cabs retain historic wood surrounds and the passenger cab has historic painted wood multi-light doors. Historic marble steps are located throughout the corridor along the upper level of the public lobby. The taller balconettes that overlook the lobby on the south side retain historic unpainted-wood round-arch surrounds. Shorter balconettes on the north side also retain historic wood trim. The wide corridor on the south side of the upper level of the lobby was historically designed as a writing room, which now has non-historic carpeting and historic plaster walls and ceilings with crown molding. The exterior windows along the south side of the former writing room retain historic wood jambs, transoms, sills, and trim. The L-shaped double-loaded corridor lined with rooms has non-historic carpeting and historic plaster walls and ceiling with crown molding. Doors along the corridor are historic paneled unpainted-wood doors with wood jambs and trim.
When constructed, the hotel had 257 guest rooms.1 In the early 1970s, the demising walls between guest rooms were reconfigured and the rooms partitioned to create ninety-two apartments. The apartments are efficiency and one- and two-bedroom units. Unit interiors have non-historic carpeting and a combination of historic plaster walls and non-historic partition walls (Photos 18, 21).
Floors three through eight retain their historic configuration of a central elevator lobby and an L-shaped double-
1 Historic sources vary in their reports on the number of guest rooms at Hotel Wausau; some accounts state there were 257 rooms, others 250, and still others 237. This nomination is using 257 total rooms because it was the most commonly reported of the three variations. Form 10-900-a
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loaded corridor lined with private rooms. The corridors have non-historic carpeting and historic plaster walls and ceilings (Photo 16). Some corridors retain historic fire hose shafts with historic wood and glazed single-leaf doors (Photo 16). Typical unit entrances are historic wood paneled single-leaf doors. The apartments have non-historic carpeting, a mixture of historic plaster walls and non-historic partition walls, and non-historic ceiling tiles (Photos 18, 21). Some units have historic painted-wood closet doors. Units throughout the building have radiator heating.
Integrity
The Hotel Wausau, completed in 1925 and designed by the Chicago-based architectural firm Holabird & Roche, retains excellent integrity to convey significance at the local level under Criterion C for Architecture.
The hotel remains in its historic location in downtown Wausau, and the setting of the hotel retains its historically commercial character. The historic design of the hotel is highly intact. The exterior retains its historic character- defining features that reflect the Classical Revival style, including tripartite arrangement with stone and brick cladding; stone and terra cotta ornamentation displaying Classical motifs such as urns and swags; brick quoining; terra-cotta dentil cornice, and prominent triangular pediment. Exterior modifications include the replacement of entry doors on the primary facades, the replacement of some steel windows on the south (rear) façade with aluminum one-over-one sashes, and the replacement of non-historic storefronts set within the historic storefront openings. These minor material changes to the building do not substantially alter the exterior design.
The interior of the building retains the character-defining aspects of its historic function as a hotel, and its historic layout is largely retained. On the first floor, the ornate, double-height public lobby retains a very high degree of integrity. Historic lobby finishes include plaster ornamentation, wood Ionic pilasters, and a decorative plaster ceiling with historic electric chandeliers. The original dining room is also highly intact; extant historic finishes in this space include plaster ornamentation and mirrored panels on walls and columns; plaster crown molding; a marble fireplace; and painted wood segmented-arch window surrounds with casement window sashes. The historic lounge has been repurposed as a retail store but still retains some historic finishes, such as plaster ornamentation. The elevator lobby on each floor retains historic finishes and historic elevator doors. The stairwells retain their historic concrete painted stairs with steel handrails, a fireproof feature that was touted by the hotel. On the upper floors, the historic L-shaped double-loaded corridor layout flanked by private rooms remains intact. Conversion of the guest rooms into apartments in the 1970s was compatible with the building’s historic function and facilitated the continued use of the building while preserving the identifying features of the early-twentieth- century urban hotel property type. The apartments have historic wood paneled entrance doors and non-historic interior finishes. Overall, the interior of the building possesses a high degree of integrity from the period of significance, particularly in the primary public spaces, and thus easily conveys its significant historic function as a hotel.
Statement of Archaeological Potential
It is unknown if archaeological remains, which could potentially provide information valuable to the understanding and interpretation of Wausau’s history and the history of previous occupants of the land, are present beneath the footprint of the Hotel Wausau. While archaeological resources may be present due to the long history Form 10-900-a
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of American Indian settlement in central Wisconsin, archaeological investigation was outside the scope of this nomination; therefore, archaeological potential at this property remains unassessed.
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SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANCE
The Hotel Wausau, constructed in 1925 at 221 Scott Street in downtown Wausau, Marathon County, Wisconsin, is eligible for listing in the National Register at the local level under Criterion C for Architecture. The period of significance is 1925, the year that the hotel was completed and opened to the public.
The Hotel Wausau was the seventh hotel completed by prominent Wisconsin hotelier Walter Schroeder. Schroeder’s successful chain of hotels promoted the concept of fireproof, luxury hotels with accommodations at various price points to meet the needs of travelers across the socioeconomic spectrum. In addition to accommodations, the Hotel Wausau featured a luxuriously appointed lobby and dining room that was used by local business and fraternal organizations for meetings as well as for private parties and functions. Located in the heart of downtown, the hotel also contained eight leasable commercial units along its primary facades, further elevating the role of the hotel in the commercial and civic environment of Wausau.
The Hotel Wausau is significant under Criterion C in the area of Architecture as an excellent local example of the Classical Revival style and as an excellent local example of an early-twentieth-century urban commercial hotel. Designed by the Chicago-based architecture firm of Holabird & Roche, the Hotel Wausau exemplifies the Classical Revival style through its tripartite arrangement; cream-toned limestone, brick, and terra cotta cladding; symmetrical façade; regular bays of fenestration; prominent triangular pediment on the primary façade with terra cotta ornamentation including a cartouche, floral swag, and garlands; ornate glazed terra cotta spandrel panels; ornamented parapet wall with terra cotta balusters; pedimented terra cotta window lintels on outer bays; terra cotta dentil cornice; and brick quoining.
The early-twentieth-century urban commercial hotel property type is reflected in the interior spatial organization of public and private spaces, including a large, ornate public lobby; a highly decorated dining room that could be expanded into a larger ballroom; leasable retail units; and private upper floors with double-loaded corridors lined with private guest rooms. The Hotel Wausau also reflects the early-twentieth-century focus on fire safety in modern hotels and features a fireproof structural frame with concrete and steel interior stairwells, a steel enclosed exterior fire escape, and fire hoses on each floor.
The Classical Revival-style ornamentation and the interior spatial arrangement of the Hotel Wausau make it a significant local example of both architectural style and property type. The Hotel Wausau (AHI #51335) is identified as potentially eligible for individual listing under Criterion C for Architecture in the WI SHPO’s Architecture and History Inventory database.
ELABORATION
Land Acknowledgement
This nomination recognizes the depth of human presence here, the ancestral homeland of American Indians for millennia, including the Ojibwa tribe. From as early as the 17th century, inter-tribal conflict, Euro-American Form 10-900-a
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exploration and settlement, and ensuing military campaigns, all had the effect of repeated displacement of Indians of many tribal affiliations. This continuous tribal movement resulted in Wisconsin being home to many tribes who originated from other parts of the country, generating a pattern of immigration, relocation, and formation of a new homeland. Some of these tribes remain in Wisconsin; others may not, but numerous count Wisconsin as home: Brotherton, Dakota, Fox/Meskwaki, Ho-Chunk, Kickapoo, Mascoutens, Menominee, Miami, Munsee, Odawa, Ojibwa, Oneida, Potawatomi, Stockbridge, Sauk, and Wyandot tribes. We acknowledge that the property that is the subject of this nomination is located on land long occupied by American Indians.
Settlement and Developmental History of Wausau, Wisconsin
The city of Wausau (“faraway place” in the Ojibwa language) is located in central Wisconsin along the Wisconsin River. Prior to European settlement in the nineteenth century, the area was dense pine forest that Native American tribes relied on as fertile hunting grounds. Early European fur traders were also attracted to the area (known then as Big Bull Falls) due to its proximity to the Wisconsin River, which aided in their exporting efforts. In 1836, the native peoples, primarily of the Ojibwa tribe, were removed from the area by the United States government. In 1837, pioneer George Stevens, a native of New York, settled on the eastern bank of the Wisconsin River and soon thereafter set up a lumber mill, which took advantage of the waterway as both a transportation route and a power source. Stevens’ enterprise was the first of many such mills that would transform the community into a successful center of the Northern lumbering industry.2 In 1850, Wausau became the county seat of Marathon County, and in 1872 it was chartered as a city with a population of approximately 1,500.3 Its early economy was fostered primarily by its lumbering operations. As the city grew, aided by the establishment of the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad and the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, additional industries and prominent enterprises emerged. These included dairy farming and cheese production, concrete and granite production, canned vegetables, shoes, beverages and cereals, brooms, mattresses, and electric motors.
The center of nineteenth-century Wausau was the courthouse square, located three blocks east of the Wisconsin River, where the county’s first courthouse and county office building, a stately Greek Revival wood-frame structure, was erected in the 1850s. The building was replaced in 1892 with a new, larger Richardsonian Romanesque-style courthouse, which was demolished in the 1950s.4 Surrounding the square were commercial buildings housing retail businesses, banks, saloons, and hotels, which also spread along adjacent commercial corridors such as N. 3rd Street and Washington Street. In 1881, Hotel Bellis opened across N. 3rd Street from the courthouse and served as Wausau’s premier hotel for several decades. The city also gained an opera house and theater in the 1880s that was located across Scott Street from the hotel. Early residential development occurred to the east and south of downtown, and eventually spread north and west across the river. The 1884 Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps recorded several lumber and sawmills near the downtown area on both the east and west banks
2 Wisconsin Historical Society, “Wausau, Wisconsin – A Brief History,” https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS2414. 3 Lee I. Yorkson, “Wausau,” 1927 Wausau City Directory (Wright Directory Co.,1927), 8. 4 Paul D. Svetlik, Big Bull Falls – Historic Downtown Wausau: A Guide to Wausau’s Historic Downtown Buildings (Madison, WI: Wisconsin Historical Society, 2010), n.p. Form 10-900-a
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of the river and on the river’s islands, which were connected to the west and eastern riverbanks via wood pedestrian bridges and railroad tracks.
As the seat of county government and a regional center of industry, Wausau grew steadily in population from decade to decade. The 1900 United States Census identified 12,354 residents living in Wausau.5 The 1920 census counted 18,661 residents; in 1924, when the Hotel Wausau was under construction, the city’s estimated population was 20,627.6 The 1927 Wausau City Directory described Wausau as “the only important city in the largest county in the state,” and remarked that the county was the largest producer of American cheese in the world.7
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Wausau became a travel destination due to its status as the county’s largest city and its active industrial economy. The city hosted two types of travelers: businessmen and leisure travelers. Those traveling on business were typically salesmen or conventioneers. Those traveling for pleasure were drawn by the picturesque natural beauty of Northern Wisconsin, to which Wausau was a metropolitan “gateway.”8 In the 1920s, these latter visitors were often traveling by car, and their itineraries were dictated by early highways; two such highways brought them directly into Wausau.9 Around the turn of the twentieth century, Wausau’s tourism economy was robust enough that it began struggling to accommodate all of its visitors during peak travel season, which spurred the Hotel Bellis to undergo a major expansion in 1902.10 The hotel shortage was thus alleviated until the early 1920s, when the number of affluent motoring tourists was on the rise and city leaders demanded a modern facility to reflect the changing times. At the time, Wausau could accommodate only 250 total guests between the Hotel Bellis and the city’s ten or so smaller hotels. A 1923 article in the Wausau Daily Herald sounded the alarm, stating that “[d]uring the tourist season hundreds of people are turned away from Wausau daily for lack of hotel accommodations, and at no time of the year are the hotel accommodations adequate to meet the demand.”11 In 1925, the opening of the $1,375,000 Hotel Wausau on the site of the former Hotel Bellis marked the largest hospitality venture in the city’s history.
Hotel Wausau History
In December 1923, Wausau city stakeholders announced that an agreement had been reached with Walter Schroeder, successful Wisconsin hotelier and president and general manager of Chris Schroeder & Son Co. of Milwaukee, about building a modern, fireproof “magnificent million dollar hotel” on the site of the Hotel Bellis, provided the citizens of Wausau purchased bonds to contribute one-fifth of the cost of the project.12 Such a hotel
5 Department of Commerce, Fourteenth Census of the United States: State Compendium – Wisconsin (Washington DC: Department of Commerce, 1925), 17. https://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/06229686v44-49ch5.pdf. 6 Lee I. Yorkson, “Wausau,” 1927 Wausau City Directory (Wright Directory Co.,1927), 9. 7 Lee I. Yorkson, “Wausau,” 1927 Wausau City Directory (Wright Directory Co.,1927), 9. 8 Wisconsin Historical Society, “Travel and Tourism,” https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/turningpoints/tp- 034/?action=more_essay; and “Boost for a Great Wausau and the Million Dollar Hotel,” Wausau Daily Herald, December 15, 1923. 9 “Speed Cop Gives Wausau Bad Name; Tourists Detour,” Wausau Pilot, March 31, 1921. 10 “Hotel Bellis Improvements,” Wausau Pilot, August 19, 1902. 11 “Boost for a Great Wausau and the Million Dollar Hotel,” Wausau Daily Herald, December 15, 1923. 12 “Boost for a Great Wausau and the Million Dollar Hotel,” Wausau Daily Herald, December 15, 1923. Form 10-900-a
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would “help to firmly secure Wausau’s position as the metropolis of Central Wisconsin and the gateway to the great tourist country of Northern Wisconsin.”13
Wausau’s desire for a new hotel was assessed earlier that year in May, when H. O. Wood, a representative of Chris Schroeder & Son Co., met with members of the local business community to propose the project. A newspaper article noted that “practically all of the Wausau men appeared to be in favor of the project.”14 By December, Walter Schroeder negotiated a deal to purchase the Hotel Bellis property from owner Newman H. Bellis for $250,000.15 The Hotel Bellis would continue to operate until March 1924, when it would be torn down for the construction of Schroeder’s new hotel, to be called the Hotel Wausau. The new hotel would be the latest in a chain successfully operated by Schroeder’s thirty-six-year-old company, which owned and operated the Hotel Wisconsin and the Astor Hotel in Milwaukee and the Hotel Retlaw in Fond du Lac.16 The company’s Hotel Northland in Green Bay and Hotel Loraine in Madison were then under construction, and a deal to open a hotel in Duluth, Minnesota, had been recently negotiated. Schroeder selected the Chicago firm of Holabird & Roche as the architect, with Frank B. Long leading the design of the hotel; by the spring of 1924, plans were underway.17 Holabird & Roche was also the designer of the first hotel in the Schroeder chain, the Hotel Wisconsin in Milwaukee.18 H. T. Eastman was the superintendent of construction. Peter L. Goerling, a member of the Hotel Bellis management, was chosen to be the first manager of the Hotel Wausau.19
Construction began in the winter of 1924 and was completed by 1925, with the hotel officially opening for business on July 17th of that year. Two nights of galas were held at the hotel, and with Schroeder’s statewide reputation and connections as a successful hotel chain operator, several hundred guests were in attendance.20 A chartered train from Milwaukee brought 125 guests from that city and others from Green Bay, Appleton, Fond du Lac, and Oshkosh.21 Formal dinners were served in the hotel’s dining room. An orchestra from Milwaukee was brought in to entertain visitors, and the City of Wausau presented Schroeder with a key to the city gates. Mayor Emil Flatter declared, “The city of Wausau is sincerely proud … a well-conducted hotel is a great asset, and we believe Hotel Wausau will fill an important economic and financial position.”22 Several local banks and fraternal organizations also wrote formal letters of support and congratulations on the hotel’s opening to the Wausau Daily Herald. On the day of the Hotel Wausau’s opening, the Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle reported that Walter Schroeder was
13 “Boost for a Great Wausau and the Million Dollar Hotel,” Wausau Daily Herald, December 15, 1923. 14 “Plan to Build a New Ten Story Hotel at Wausau,” The Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune, May 21, 1923. 15 “Bellis Hotel at Wausau to Change Hands,” The Marshfield Daily News, December 3, 1923. 16 “Retlaw” is “Walter” spelled in reverse. 17 “Hotel Architect Making a Survey,” Wausau Daily Herald, April 4, 1924. Whilst leading the design of the Hotel Wausau, Frank B. Long was also designing the third iteration of the Palmer House Hotel in downtown Chicago, which was to cost approximately $17 million to build and have 2,500 rooms. 18 “Many Concerns Furnish Help in Mammoth Hotel,” Wausau Daily Herald, “Wausau Hotel Edition,” Volume 18, Number 195, July 18, 1925. 19 “Hotel Wausau to be Name of New Hotel,” Wausau Daily Herald, February 25, 1924. 20 “Grand Opening of Hotel Wausau,” Wausau Daily Herald, July 17, 1925. 21 “Green Bay People Attend Opening of New Wausau Hotel,” Green Bay Press-Gazette, July 20, 1925. 22 “Wausau’s Newest Hostelry Initiates the City’s Sky Line,” Wausau Daily Herald, “Wausau Hotel Edition,” Volume 18, Number 195, July 18, 1925. Form 10-900-a
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“putting Wisconsin on the modern hotel map with a chain of first class hotels,” and praised that he “has done a great service to his state by initiating and sponsoring some of the biggest building projects here.”23
The eight-story, 257-room Hotel Wausau was the largest hotel in the Schroeder chain outside of Milwaukee and cost $1,375,000 to build.24 By the time it opened, it was Schroeder’s seventh hotel and followed his formula of combining luxury amenities with well-appointed rooms in a range of price points. Rates began at $2.00 per night; these smaller, more affordable rooms had running water but no private bathroom, while at least 200 of the rooms offered a full private bath.25 The Wausau Daily Herald declared that the new hotel “marks an era in this city’s progress” and celebrated that “conventions and meetings of all kinds will now find adequate quarters for the delegates.”26 The hotel also touted its fireproof structure of reinforced concrete and steel with advertisements reading “Fireproof: Sleep in Safety at the Hotel Wausau.”27 Its opulent Classical Revival exterior was designed to convey the comfort and luxury of the interior accommodations.
Located in the heart of downtown, the Hotel Wausau was designed with four commercial storefronts along the first story of its N. 3rd Street facade and four storefronts at the basement level of the west portion of its Scott Street façade. The American National Bank initially occupied a portion of the N. 3rd Street storefronts while its headquarters was under construction on the north side of Scott Street. The Hotel Wausau Barber Shop, operated by Donald McCormick, was located in the basement of the hotel, directly below the first-floor lounge, and was accessed either from a Scott Street entrance or the hotel interior.28 Next to the barber shop were two “sample rooms,” akin to modern-day conference rooms, which were provided for traveling salesmen to display their wares. A coffee shop and café occupied a portion of the basement level directly below the first-floor dining room. The Wausau Daily Herald reported, “The hotel is said by prominent businessmen to be one of the most important places in the city, not only as a business house but as a social meter as well. Its establishment here is a recognition of the progressiveness of the city and people and is a valuable addition to the industries already here.”29 In addition to providing commercial spaces for local businesses, the hotel employed a staff of approximately 100 people.
The Hotel Wausau fulfilled its role as the city’s premier hotel by providing ornately appointed interiors in which hotel guests could relax or be entertained. These spaces included a reception lobby, a lounge, and a large dining room (all on the first floor) and two private dining rooms and a writing room on the second floor. The reception
23 “Walter Schroeder Opens New Hotel at Wausau, Wisconsin,” Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle, July 17, 1925. 24 “Formal Opening of Hotel Wausau Last Night and Tonight,” Wausau Daily Herald, “Wausau Hotel Edition,” Volume 18, Number 195, July 18, 1925. 25 The six previously completed hotels in the Schroeder chain are as follows: The Hotel Wisconsin in Milwaukee, the Hotel Astor in Milwaukee, the Hotel Retlaw in Fond du Lac, the Hotel Loraine in Madison, the Hotel Northland in Green Bay, and the Hotel Duluth in Duluth, Minnesota. 1927 Wausau City Directory (Wright Directory Co.,1927), 74. 26 “Formal Opening of Hotel Wausau Last Night and Tonight,” Wausau Daily Herald, “Wausau Hotel Edition,” Volume 18, Number 195, July 18, 1925. 27 1927 Wausau City Directory (Wright Directory Co.,1927), 74. 28 “Hotel Barber Shop is Modern,” Wausau Daily Herald, “Wausau Hotel Edition,” Volume 18, Number 195, July 18, 1925. 29 “Big Hotel Makes Valued Addition to Civic Growth,” Wausau Daily Herald, “Wausau Hotel Edition,” Volume 18, Number 195, July 18, 1925. Form 10-900-a
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lobby was located to the north of the primary entrance vestibule, accessed from Scott Street, and was designed as a double-height space lit by three large electric chandeliers. The floor was carpeted and featured two large custom- designed rugs.30 The walls were decorated with dark walnut panels and fluted Ionic pilasters, and plaster ornamentation decorated the walls and ceiling. A mezzanine level with balconettes overlooked the lobby. A small cigar and newsstand operated on the west side of the lobby, and a manager’s office and reception desk with a marble counter were located along the south wall. A staircase on the southeast side of the lobby led up to the mezzanine and to the writing room equipped with desks and hotel stationery. The first-floor lounge, to the north of the reception lobby, was decorated with dark woodwork, walls with tapestried and mirrored panels, velvet rugs, and silk damask drapes. The dining room, located to the west of the primary entrance vestibule, was designed in a Georgian period motif and featured walnut paneling, decorative woodwork, plaster ornamentation, arched windows with silk curtains, and mirrored paneling. A retractable wood accordion door separated the dining room from the western ballroom, which was similarly designed and featured a marble fireplace with plaster ornamentation and a mirrored panel above.31 The hotel advertised its amenities as premier spaces in which to have weddings, banquets, formal dinners, fraternal and social gatherings, and private parties.32 Albert Pick & Co. of Chicago supplied the interior furnishings and equipment, including carpets, curtains, linens, glassware, china, and special Schroeder-chain silverware.33
A modern hotel of this size required significant back-of-house space to support daily operations. A spacious hotel kitchen with electric appliances, located along the south side of the first floor, supported the dining room and provided room service for guests. Three large boilers, located in the basement, provided heat and hot water for the building, and a pumping room filtered the water. A large laundry room and linen storage room were located on the south side of the basement. On the roof, a three-story penthouse contained storage and a carpentry shop on the first level; two water tanks, which contained water piped up from the basement and then distributed throughout the hotel via gravity, on the second level; and a machine room for elevator equipment on the top level. The building’s fireproof structure was augmented with safety features such as interior fire stairs, fire hoses on each floor, and an enclosed exterior steel fire escape at the southwest corner of the building.
The guest rooms were located on the second through the eighth floors, with floors three through eight having an identical floor plan consisting of a double-loaded L-shaped carpeted corridor lined with private rooms. All rooms at the Hotel Wausau had running water, and most had private toilets and baths. Each room had carpeting, telephone and clothes closets, and dark-wood furnishings that included a bed, dresser, chair, and desk. The private bathrooms had marble tubs and tiled walls. On each floor, a few guest rooms were more ornately finished with features such as plaster wall paneling. This variation in the sizes and appointments of guest rooms was intended to accommodate clientele of middle and upper socioeconomic classes.
30 “Noted Concern Furnished Hotel in Rich Fashion,” Wausau Daily Herald, “Wausau Hotel Edition,” Volume 18, Number 195, July 18, 1925. 31 The ballroom is identified on original plans as the “club room.” 32 1927 Wausau City Directory (Wright Directory Co.,1927), 74. 33 “Noted Concern Furnished Hotel in Rich Fashion,” Wausau Daily Herald, “Wausau Hotel Edition,” Volume 18, Number 195, July 18, 1925. Form 10-900-a
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The Hotel Wausau served as the city’s largest and premier hotel from 1925 into the 1960s. In addition to providing accommodations for travelers, the hotel’s facilities were regularly used by local groups and fraternal organizations.34 After the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, the lounge to the north of the reception lobby was turned into a bar called the Blue Fountain Room.35 Also in the 1930s, the J. R. Brushert Jewelry Company moved into a storefront on the N. 3rd Street façade, and it continues to operate in the hotel today. During the city’s centennial in 1939, the Hotel Wausau hosted fifty-three various conventions and meetings. Up through the late 1960s, the hotel still served as a meeting place for local clubs such as the Kiwanis, Sierra Club, Altrusa Club, Toastmasters, Knights of Columbus, Christian Businessmen, and the Marathon County Bar Association.36
In the late 1960s, the construction of newer hotels such as a Holiday Inn along U.S. Highway 51-State Highway 29 created competition for the aging Hotel Wausau. In 1967, the hotel was purchased by G. R. Viele of Wausau and John B. Straub of Milwaukee, and the name was changed to the Motor Hotel Wausau.37 Viele and Straub developed an expansive plan to turn the hotel into a convention center and motor inn, including the construction of a four-story parking ramp on the back of the hotel and a rooftop convention center. They began remodeling the guest rooms but then sold the building to Ray and Marie Goldbach in 1968.38 The southwest portion of the block where the hotel was located was cleared for the proposed parking ramp and convention center, but ultimately, the plans did not come to fruition. In 1974, the Goldbachs announced that the hotel would be converted to long-term rental housing, stating that the hotel could no longer compete with outlying motels that feature “ultra-modern facilities” such as swimming pools.39 The new owners renamed the building “The Landmark” in 1975.40
In 1986, the Goldbachs sold the building to realtor Jack Williams. Today, the building continues to be used as an apartment building with ground-floor retail and a large public restaurant in the former dining room.
Walter Schroeder (1878-1967) of Chris Schroeder & Son Co.41
Walter Schroeder, the Wisconsin hotelier and builder of the Hotel Wausau, was born in Milwaukee as the sixth of nine children and entered the business world early, leaving school before he was twenty to work as a publisher of the Milwaukee Daily Abstract. Schroeder sold the newspaper in 1900 and joined his German-born father’s real estate and insurance business, the Christian Schroeder & Son Company. After his father’s death in 1915, Walter
34 Ed Wodalski, “Hotel Wausau: Downtown landmark has served community well,” Wausau Daily Herald, November 9, 1986. 35 Win Freund, “History, Lore of Old Hotel Wausau Explored,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, August 3, 1967. 36 Win Freund, “History, Lore of Old Hotel Wausau Explored,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, August 3, 1967. 37 Dewey Pfister, “Hotel Wausau to Be Luxury Motor Inn, Convention Center,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, August 3, 1967. 38 “Plan Convention Center at Motor Hotel Wausau,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, February 28, 1969. 39 “Motor Hotel Wausau to cease renting rooms,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, December 16, 1974. 40 “Former hotel has new name,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, August 26, 1975. 41 The following summary is from the Hotel Northland National Register nomination, written by John Cramer of MacRostie Historic Advisors. National Register of Historic Places, “Hotel Northland,” Green Bay, Wisconsin, Ref no.13000860.
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assumed leadership as president of the company and ran the business for over fifty years, making his fortune selling insurance and backing mortgage loans and bonds and transforming what was his father’s relatively small storefront into the largest insurance and real estate operation in the state. Walter Schroeder entered the hotel business in 1912 as a bond manager for Milwaukee’s new Hotel Wisconsin. When the hotel’s original head trustee was removed by the company’s board, Schroeder was placed at the helm of operations and ultimately made a success of the Hotel Wisconsin venture. Finding he enjoyed the hotel trade, Schroeder began his own hotel development and management company and over the next two decades built the largest hotel chain in Wisconsin.
Schroeder entered the upscale hotel business in a decade of momentous change for the industry. A generation before, the most successful models for hotel building and operations were the country’s large luxury hotels in cities like New York, Chicago, and San Francisco, “gilt palaces” that exuded extravagance and comfort but whose grand facades often hid widespread spatial, operational, and financial disorganization. So expensive and complicated was late-nineteenth-century hotel management that most upscale urban hotels catered almost exclusively to affluent guests who could afford the exorbitant rates charged to compensate for the profession’s inescapable inefficiencies. Seeking to make hotel management more efficient and more profitable, hotel industry reformers of the first decade of the twentieth century developed a new model they called the “commercial hotel” that simplified the architectural design of hotels, limited the amenities hotels offered, and provided affordable accommodations not just to the wealthy but also to the middle-class American traveler. Ambitious businessmen who a decade before might have shied away from hotel-keeping flocked to the newly lucrative field and made professions in the 1910s and 1920s out of building and operating hotel facilities in large and small cities across the country. And soon hoteliers like Walter Schroeder found that by implementing modern methods of hotel building and management, they need not be limited to single hotels but could multiply their profits by buying and building hotels in bulk.
Schroeder began his hotel chain in Milwaukee with the construction of the eight-story Hotel Astor at 924 E. Juneau (completed 1922, NRHP#84003715), designed by Herbert W. Tullgren of the prominent Milwaukee developer and architectural firm of Martin Tullgren & Sons. Two years later, Schroeder tapped Tullgren to design three more large hotels in Wisconsin’s other main urban centers: Madison’s Hotel Loraine at 123 West Washington Avenue (completed 1924, NRHP#02001125), Green Bay’s Hotel Northland at 304 North Adams Street (completed 1924, NRHP#13000860), and Fond Du Lac’s Hotel Retlaw at 1 North Main Street (completed 1924, NRHP#84003673). All of these early Schroeder hotels were characterized by their tripartite stone, brick, and terra cotta exterior compositions and their luxurious lobbies, restaurants, ballrooms, and guest rooms within.
In 1924, while Hotels Northland and Loraine were under construction, the company announced that it would add another to the chain and build a large luxury hotel in Wausau. The Hotel Wausau was designed by the Chicago firm of Holabird & Roche and completed in 1925. While it was under construction, Schroeder also built the Hotel Duluth in Duluth, Minnesota. When the Hotel Wausau opened, Schroeder’s hotel chain was collecting $2.5 million in income annually.42 The chain of seven hotels was advertised by Schroeder as a safe, fireproof, and luxurious option for travelers: “Follow the Schroeder Chain when touring the Land O’ Lakes of Wisconsin and the Arrowhead Country of Minnesota… a tour can be arranged so one can leave a Schroeder Hotel in the morning and
42 “Hotel Builder Completes Chain in Hotel Wausau,” Wausau Daily Herald, “Wausau Hotel Edition,” Volume 18, Number 195, July 18, 1925. Form 10-900-a
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be at another Schroeder Hotel in the evening, assured of finding the same gratifying service, convenience and comfort.”43
Schroeder’s career as a hotel builder culminated in 1928 with the construction of the centerpiece of his hotel collection, the Art Deco style Hotel Schroeder at 509 West Wisconsin Avenue in Milwaukee (designed by Holabird & Roche, extant). The completed Hotel Schroeder was Wisconsin’s largest with 26 stories and 811 guest rooms, and its large restaurant and ballroom became centers of Milwaukee social life. Schroeder would eventually come to own at least ten hotels in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, and Michigan and continued to build, acquire, and manage new and existing hotels through the 1950s, gaining a widespread recognition as one of the most successful hoteliers in the Midwest.
Schroeder established the Walter Schroeder Foundation in 1963 and became known in his last years as a prominent Milwaukee philanthropist, donating funds to Marquette University and the Milwaukee School of Engineering, both of whom named campus buildings after their benefactor. Schroeder continued to operate his insurance business and his hotel chain until his death in 1967 at the age of eighty-nine.
Classical Revival Style
The Classical Revival style (1895-1935; also known as the Neoclassical or Neoclassical Revival style) was inspired by the Classically derived architecture at the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago. Collectively nicknamed the “White City” after their exterior hue, the buildings at the fair were designed by the nation’s most prominent architects of the period and viewed by millions of visitors. Their Classical language, which referenced ancient Greek and Roman precedents, stood in stark contrast to the excessive ornament, color, and eclecticism of Victorian styles such as Queen Anne, Second Empire, Gothic Revival, and Italianate. The “White City” was refreshingly orderly, rational, and restrained, and soon inspired a return to Classical design for institutional and commercial buildings across the country.44 It was also interpreted for upscale single-family residences. For all of these property types, the style was an imposing choice that conveyed wealth, power, and stability.
In addition to the direct influence of ancient Greece and Rome, the Classical Revival style also borrowed from the Italian Renaissance and the British and American Georgian, Federal, and Greek Revival styles of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, which themselves shared Classical precedents. This combination resulted in a less restrictive design language that suited the post-Victorian era. For instance, architects Holabird & Roche explained to The Hotel Monthly in 1924 that their inspiration for the Hotel Wausau came from two grand English Georgian residences: Kirtlington Park Manor (1740s) in Oxfordshire and Chesterfield House (1740s-50s) in London.45
Defining characteristics of the Classical Revival style include: a formal, symmetrical design; monumentality in form, massing and/or scale; a tripartite façade arrangement of base, shaft, and capital; a smooth exterior achieved
43 Advertisement, Wausau Daily Herald, “Wausau Hotel Edition,” Volume 18, Number 195, July 18, 1925. 44 Barbara Wyatt, Ed., “Architectural Styles” in Cultural Resource Management in Wisconsin: A Manual for Historic Properties (Madison, WI: The State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1986), n.p. 45 “The Hotel Wausau of Wausau, Wisconsin,” The Hotel Monthly (1924): 52-53. Form 10-900-a
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by the use of stone, brick and/or stucco; a central entrance, often accentuated by a portico and/or pediment feature; colossal columns and/or pilasters; decorative door and window surrounds; round- or segmental-arch openings; Classical ornamentation such as urns, swags, garlands, dentils, and modillions; a roofline balustrade; decorative paneling; and double-hung sash windows. A one-over-one sash light pattern is the most common, although other combinations are found as well.
In Wisconsin, primary examples of the Classical Revival style include the State Capitol in Madison, designed by architect George B. Post in 1906 (NRHP#70000031); the State Historical Society Building in Madison (Ferry and Clas, 1900; NRHP#72000049); the Daily Northwestern Building in Oshkosh (Auler, Jensen and Brown, 1927; NRHP#82000732); and the Wisconsin National Life Insurance Building in Oshkosh (Auler, Jensen and Brown, 1930).46
Classical Revival Style in Marathon County
In Wausau and greater Marathon County, as in most communities throughout the Midwest and the United States, the Classical Revival style was a popular design choice in the early twentieth century for a wide variety of property types, including residences, government buildings, and commercial buildings such as banks. Many local residents very likely visited the 1893 fair in Chicago and its “White City,” and architects working in Wisconsin would have been aware of the fair’s influence on shifting design tastes.
According to the Wisconsin SHPO’s Architecture and History Inventory database, 29 resources (extant and demolished) in Marathon County have been identified via survey as “Neoclassical” in architectural style.47 Of those, seven are single-family residences, four are tombs, five are institutional buildings (e.g., schools), and thirteen are commercial buildings (including the subject property). The resources range from modest vernacular examples to minimally styled public buildings to grand high-style examples. Most are located in Wausau.
While they share stylistic precedents, Classical Revival-style residences and tombs are not directly comparable to the high-style Hotel Wausau because of the significant difference in scale, materials, and features. Classical Revival-style residences are scaled to fit within their neighborhood contexts, which are typically historically upscale communities with a low-rise character and homes set back from the street. In Marathon County, all residential examples of the style are clad in wood clapboards or stucco and do not feature the same variety of exterior materials or ornamentation as the Hotel Wausau. The Classical Revival-style tombs in Marathon County are small, sober structures modeled after ancient temple forms and typically feature no more than one or two exterior materials (i.e., stone) with restrained ornament.
46 Barbara Wyatt, Ed., “Architectural Styles” in Cultural Resource Management in Wisconsin: A Manual for Historic Properties (Madison, WI: The State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1986), Vol ?, n.p. 47 Wisconsin Historical Society, Architecture and History Inventory, https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS2834. The referenced surveys in Marathon County occurred in 1978, 1983, 1997, and 2017-18.
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Of the five identified institutional buildings, three are extant: one school (Sixth Ward School, 500 N. 4th Avenue, Wausau) and two meeting halls (Wausau Elks Lodge No. 248, 414 Scott Street, Wausau; Edgar Village Hall, 107 W. Beech Street, Edgar; NRHP#00000317). All are examples of the Classical Revival style as applied to modest, community-oriented buildings. They are not directly comparable to the Hotel Wausau due to their difference in scale and limited stylistic features. The Sixth Ward School (1910) is a three-story red-brick structure with restrained contrasting stone trim; all windows have been replaced and there is a large contemporary brick-clad addition at the rear.48 The three-story, brick-clad Wausau Elks Lodge No. 248 (1924) is described in the 2017-18 survey as “Stripped Classical”; ornamentation is limited to some stone trim, including a central portico entrance, decorative brickwork, and three arched window openings.49 All windows have been replaced. Edgar Village Hall (1917) is a two-story municipal meeting that was individually listed in 2000 under Criterion C as a “visually striking example of eclectic period revival design; it displays a combination of French Colonial, Italianate and Classical elements.”50 In addition to its scale and stylistic features, Edgar Village Hall also differs from Hotel Wausau in its blend of styles, which was not uncommon in the early twentieth century.
Of the thirteen identified commercial buildings, six are extant. These examples are the closest comparables to the Hotel Wausau in terms of stylistic expression and quality of design, materials, and workmanship, but most are significantly smaller in scale and thus do not communicate the same monumentality and grandeur. Each of the six extant examples is discussed below:
1. Marathon County Bank (1925), 402 N. 3rd Street, Wausau. This two-story bank, located down the street from the Hotel Wausau, was originally constructed in the Romanesque Revival style and remodeled to its present appearance in 1925.51 Notable Classical Revival-style features include colossal Ionic pilasters, a limestone exterior, a dentil cornice, inset panel detailing, and a roofline balustrade. Most windows are replacements. It differs from the Hotel Wausau in its smaller scale and restrained ornamentation.
2. State Bank of Mosinee (1905), 211 Main St., Mosinee. This small, two-story bank is located in the historic commercial corridor of Mosinee.52 A vernacular interpretation of the style, its Classical Revival features are limited to the façade and consist of an ashlar concrete-block front and wooden pilastered storefront with a modillion cornice.
48 Wisconsin Historical Society, “500 N. 4th Ave.,” Architecture and History Inventory, AHI #49711, https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Property/HI49711. 49 Wisconsin Historical Society, “414 Scott St.,” Architecture and History Inventory, AHI #46297, https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Property/HI46297. 50 “Edgar Village Hall, Marathon County, Wisconsin,” National Register of Historic Places, 2000. The building was also listed under Criterion A for its association with local government. Wisconsin Historical Society, “107 W. Beech St.,” Architecture and History Inventory, AHI #68717, https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Property/HI68717. 51 Wisconsin Historical Society, “402 N. 3rd St.,” Architecture and History Inventory, AHI #50411, https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Property/HI50411. 52 Wisconsin Historical Society, “211 Main St.,” Architecture and History Inventory, AHI #44119, https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Property/HI44119. Form 10-900-a
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3. Wausau Gas, Coke and Light Building (1901), 401 N. 4th Street, Wausau. Philip Dean, architect. This two-story former office building was deemed “an important and distinctive Wausau example of the Neo- classical Revival style” in a 1983 survey. According to the survey, the building was “inspired by Renaissance prototypes” and its exterior is defined by a “three tiered gradation of surface textures (rusticated stone, coursed brick, smooth brick) akin to Renaissance palaces.”53 Other Classical features include decorative stone voussoirs, brick pilasters with contrasting-stone Ionic capitals, and roofline balustrade. However, the building’s integrity has been diminished in recent years by a series of modifications, including the replacement or encapsulation of the dentil cornice with a contemporary frieze band and flashing. All windows have been replaced, the basement window openings were resized, and a large brick-clad addition was erected at the rear of the Jefferson Street façade.
4. Grand Theater (1927), 411-15 N. 4th Street, Wausau. I. A. Obel and William Oppenhamer, architects. This large theater is described in a 2017 survey as “an elegant example of 1920s theater design conceived with Neo-classical Revival inspiration.”54 The façade is clad in ashlar stone and is divided into three primary bays with a central arch, paired fluted pilasters with lotus capitals, inset stone panels with high-relief urns, frieze band with wreaths and swags, and roofline balustrade. Windows are multi- light wood sashes. Five pairs of entrance doors are separated by engaged Tuscan columns. To the left and right of the façade are contemporary two-story additions that read as visually subordinate to the historic building.
5. Wisconsin Valley Trust Company Building (1908), 427 N. 4th Street, Wausau. Van Ryn and De Gellecke, architects. The 1983 survey describes this two-story bank as “a significant example of the Neo-Classical style applied to a commercial building in Wausau.”55 The survey also notes that it is the only building in the city faced in terra cotta. Classical Revival-style exterior features include segmental- arch window openings, inset panels, a prominent cornice with modillions and brackets, and a roofline balustrade. However, all windows have been replaced, and the second-floor openings have lost their prominent terra cotta mullions. The basement window openings have been resized. A contemporary two- story rear addition is visible from Scott Street.
6. Rohde Book Store (1903), 531 N. 3rd Street, Wausau. Exterior Classical Revival features of this brick- clad two-story commercial building are limited to pedimented window cornices, unadorned cornice with frieze band, and double-hung wood windows. The first floor has undergone “inappropriate”
53 Wisconsin Historical Society, “401 N. 4th St.,” Architecture and History Inventory, AHI #50649, https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Property/HI50649. 54 Wisconsin Historical Society, “411-15 N. 4th St.,” Architecture and History Inventory, AHI #50650, https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Property/HI50650. 55 Wisconsin Historical Society, “427 N. 4th St.,” Architecture and History Inventory, AHI #50651, https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Property/HI50651. Form 10-900-a
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modifications, according to the 2017 survey.56 In addition to diminished integrity, the Rohde Book Store has limited stylistic features and is not a noteworthy example of the Classical Revival.
Of these six extant examples, the Grand Theater in Wausau is the most similar to Hotel Wausau in its scale, form and massing, high-style design, materials, and workmanship. Both buildings have good exterior integrity. The primary difference between the two buildings is their property type, although both are large-scale commercial buildings that are well suited to the monumentality and grandeur of the Classical Revival style. The other examples described above do not favorably compare to the Hotel Wausau due to factors such as diminished integrity, a notably smaller scale, modest design, and limited ornamentation. Therefore, the Hotel Wausau is distinguished as a premier and rare example of a high-style Classical Revival design in Wausau and Marathon County.
Early 20th Century Urban Commercial Hotel Architecture57
The Hotel Wausau, completed in 1925, is associated with a period of fundamental change for the American hotel industry. Along with Walter Schroeder’s previous hotels constructed in 1924 throughout Wisconsin, the Hotel Wausau embodied the transition of upscale American hotel architecture from the luxurious but inefficient “gilt palace” model of the late-nineteenth century to the early-twentieth century urban commercial hotel property type which offered Americans of all social classes elegant, efficiently designed, and affordable entertainment spaces and accommodations. The embrace of this more successful building model by early-twentieth-century hotel owners and architects drove the construction of hundreds of large commercial hotels in cities across the country in the 1910s and 1920s, of which the Hotel Wausau is an excellent intact example.
From their eighteenth-century origins as taverns, inns, and boarding houses, the hotel has played a major role in American cities as a place to board passing travelers, to host local social events, and to act as the positive public face for aspiring communities. Though the presence of small, informal urban hotels persisted throughout the nineteenth century, the most visible advance in hotel architecture of the mid-to-late-nineteenth century was the development of the urban “gilt palace” or “grand hotel,” built in America’s largest coastal metropolises and typified by its inventive, ostentatious Revival Style exteriors and its plush and showy interiors. These large hotels catered almost exclusively to the wealthiest of travelers and to local elites, many of whom maintained upstairs suites as semi-permanent households, living at their exclusive hotel addresses for months out of the year. According to historian Lisa Pfueller Davidson, although opulent urban hotels of the late 1800s maintained reputations for equally opulent success, their inefficient spatial planning and high maintenance and staff costs made these enormous ventures far less profitable than they appeared. In the 1900s and 1910s, many American hotel investors, managers, and architects sought to remedy these challenges to the nation’s hotel trade and to increase the industry’s profitability through the careful analysis of effective space planning and architectural design, hotel management and accounting, and optimal customer makeup, finding that the financial and architectural disorganization of the
56 Wisconsin Historical Society, “531 N. 3rd St.,” Architecture and History Inventory, AHI #50674, https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Property/HI50674. 57 The following summary is adapted from the Hotel Northland National Register nomination, written by John Cramer of MacRostie Historic Advisors. National Register of Historic Places, “Hotel Northland,” Green Bay, Wisconsin, Ref no. 13000860. Form 10-900-a
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money-siphoning “gilt palace” hotel model should be replaced with a more attractive model that provided better service and amenities to less wealthy (but more abundant) customers, all for less capital investment and fewer ongoing maintenance costs.
This new urban “commercial hotel” model retained its attraction to both visitors and natives but sought to provide all customers with value alongside elegance by eliminating unneeded costs. A typical example of this new commercial hotel property type was sited near busy train stations, drawing in tired customers directly from intercontinental rail travel. It catered not only to the elite but also to the average business and pleasure traveler with a limited budget. The architectural excess that festooned large Victorian hotels was replaced on these new hotels with understated but imposing Classical-inspired facades of durable stone, brick, and terra cotta. Lower- level public lobbies, dining rooms, private meeting rooms, and ballrooms were maintained as important guest amenities, and new offerings such as coffee shops and beauty parlors/barber shops were incorporated into the public floors as well. Another important new feature was the practical addition of leasable retail stores at ground level, which generated revenue and thus contributed to the hotel’s overall bottom line.58 Such an array of facilities was intended to satisfy a range of guest needs; as Davidson puts it, these new commercial hotels were “a city within a city,” providing everything a guest could need without ever exiting the front doors.59
Important changes took place on the private floors as well. Centrally clustered passenger elevators, freight elevators, and stairs made access to upper floors more convenient for guests and staff and maximized the amount of open space available upstairs for paying guest quarters. Sleeping floors were carefully planned to minimize winding circulation corridors. Rambling upstairs suites were eliminated entirely in favor of efficiently sized, minimally furnished, and affordably priced guest rooms.
So successful were early urban commercial hotels that many new hoteliers found they could easily expand their newly successful ventures to two or more new hotels. These early chains of large urban hotels were an attractive prospect to potential investors, an impossible notion only a few decades before. When designing their new hotels, these national chains often solicited the services of only a few trusted and experienced hotel architects, most notably the New York-based firms of Warren & Wetmore; McKim, Mead, & White; and George B. Post; and the Chicago-based firm of Holabird & Roche, all architects whose palatial hotel projects would inspire the work of lesser known architects around the country.60
58 Lisa Pfueller Davidson, “A Service Machine": Hotel Guests and the Development of an Early-Twentieth-Century Building Type,” Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture (Vol. 10: Building Environments, 2005): 115-116. 59 Lisa Pfueller Davidson, “A Service Machine": Hotel Guests and the Development of an Early-Twentieth-Century Building Type,” Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture (Vol. 10: Building Environments, 2005): 116. 60 Lisa Pfueller Davidson, “Early Twentieth-Century Hotel Architects and the Origins of Standardization,” The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts (Vol.25: 2005), 72-103; John A. Jakle and Keith A. Sculle, “The American Hotel in Postcard Advertising: An Image Gallery,” Material Culture (Vol.37, No.2: Fall 2005), 1-25. Form 10-900-a
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Hotels in Wausau
Prior to the construction of the Hotel Wausau in 1925, Wausau’s primary hotel was the Hotel Bellis, which was completed in 1881 at the southwest corner of Scott and N. 3rd Streets (the site of the subject property) and operated by local entrepreneur George M. Bellis.61 It was a three-story brick-clad structure, with its primary entrance facing east towards N. 3rd Street. It began as a forty-room hotel but, through a series of rear additions and remodeling, the hotel eventually occupied nearly the entire northern portion of the block and contained 103 guest rooms.62 Of particular note is a substantial renovation in 1902 that attempted to modernize the hotel by adding amenities such as a barber shop, “commodious” bathrooms, and large boilers and “dynamos” to provide heat and electricity to the hotel as well as to adjacent businesses.63 The Wausau Pilot praised these efforts to transform the Bellis into “a public house of city accommodations,” and for some time the hotel’s first-class reputation continued.64 However, by the early 1920s, city stakeholders determined that the Bellis was not providing sufficient accommodations for “the metropolis of Central Wisconsin and the gateway to the great tourist country of Northern Wisconsin,” and welcomed plans from Chris Schroeder & Son Co. of Milwaukee to develop a new “million dollar hotel” in downtown Wausau.65 In 1923, George Bellis’s sons Newman and Mark sold the Hotel Bellis to Schroeder, and the following year it was demolished to make way for the newest hotel in Schroeder’s commercial hotel chain.
In addition to the Hotel Bellis, there were several smaller hotels in Wausau during this period that ranged in size from approximately ten to thirty rooms and did not exceed three stories.66 They were typically located in or near downtown, and the majority were constructed in the late nineteenth century. Few of these smaller hotels survive today. Among the largest was the Hotel Northern at 428 Jackson Street, a three-story Second Empire-style hotel completed in 1883 (demolished).67 One extant example is the two-story St. Paul Hotel (1891) at 606-10 Washington Street.68
The Hotel Wausau served as the city’s premier accommodations for the next few decades, standing as the largest and most elegant option for visitors and local events. Following the end of World War II in 1945, the Hotel Wausau faced increased competition from new, affordable roadside hotels and motels catering specifically to motoring tourists and business travelers, with ample parking and modern amenities such as swimming pools. After
61 “Wausau Soon Will Have New Hotel,” The Appleton Post-Crescent, March 4, 1924. 62 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, Sheet 14, 1912. Library of Congress Geography and Map Division, Washington, D.C.; and History of Northern Wisconsin (Chicago: The Western Historical Company, 1881), 551. 63 “Hotel Bellis Improvements,” Wausau Pilot, August 19, 1902. 64 “Hotel Bellis Improvements,” Wausau Pilot, August 19, 1902. 65 “Boost for a Great Wausau and the Million Dollar Hotel,” Wausau Daily Herald, December 15, 1923. 66 Wisconsin State Board of Health, “Wausau,” Manual and Directory of Wisconsin Hotels (Madison, WI: The State Board of Health, 1922), 70. 67 Wisconsin Historical Society, “428 Jackson St.,” Architecture and History Inventory, AHI #27193, https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Property/HI237081. 68 Wisconsin Historical Society, “606-10 Washington St.,” Architecture and History Inventory, AHI #237081, https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Property/HI237081. Form 10-900-a
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a late 1960s attempt to modernize as a “motor hotel” with a planned parking garage and rooftop convention center, the hotel finally closed in the early 1970s.
The Hotel Wausau is the only example of an early twentieth-century urban commercial hotel in Marathon County, and today it stands as an excellent intact example that reflects the progressive attitude, civic pride, and strong industry-based economy of Wausau during this period. Numerous aspects of the hotel’s design and functionality exemplified its property type. The sophisticated Classical Revival exterior masked the building’s modern fireproof construction and expressed the quality of service to be found within. The building’s design was elegant yet efficient; at the 1925 opening, the Wausau Daily Record-Herald noted that the hotel, “more like a modern home in its sumptuous appointments, is especially notable for its efficiency; not a foot of space is wasted; all the building is used economically for the good of patrons and for service.”69 The hotel catered to a variety of guests as reflected in its different room types and rates. The varied type, size, and tasteful decorative finishes of the hotel’s many public amenities (spacious dining room and ballroom, lounge, coffee shop, barber shop, writing room, private dining rooms, and sample rooms) suited the seasoned business traveler as well as the average leisure traveler accustomed to a certain level of comfort. Its public spaces doubled as gathering spaces for the city’s top organizations and events, and its eight storefronts generated revenue for the hotel while also providing homes for local businesses.
Holabird & Roche
The Hotel Wausau was designed by Frank B. Long of the Chicago-based architecture firm Holabird & Roche. The firm was founded in Chicago by William Holabird (1854-1923) and Martin Roche (1855-1927) in 1881. The pair met while working in the office of William Le Baron Jenney, often considered the developer of the modern skyscraper. The firm was highly influential in the architectural development of Chicago and designed numerous public and commercial buildings in the city, including many late-nineteenth-century skyscrapers that became synonymous with the Chicago School of architecture. These include the Tacoma Building (1887), the south end of the Monadnock Building (1892), the Marquette Building (1894), and City Hall (1910). In 1929, following the deaths of both partners, the firm was reorganized by William Holabird’s son, John, and John Wellborn Root, Jr., as Holabird & Root.
Holabird & Roche also designed the Hotel Wisconsin in Milwaukee, the first hotel in the Schroeder chain. While drawing the plans for the Hotel Wausau, the firm was also working on three hotels in Chicago: the $17 million third iteration of the Palmer House Hotel, containing 2,500 rooms; the $18 million Stevens Hotel; and an addition to the Sherman House Hotel.
Conclusion
The Hotel Wausau is significant under Criterion C in the area of Architecture as an excellent local example of the Classical Revival style and as an excellent local example of early-twentieth-century urban commercial hotel property type.
69 “Cities Judged by the Hotels They Provide,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, July 18, 1925. Form 10-900-a
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Designed by the Chicago-based architectural firm of Holabird & Roche, it exemplifies the Classical Revival style through its tripartite arrangement with stone, brick, and terra cotta cladding; symmetrical façade; regular bays of fenestration; prominent triangular pediment on the primary façade with terra cotta ornamentation including a cartouche, floral swag, and garlands; ornate glazed terra cotta spandrel panels; ornamented parapet wall with terra cotta balusters; pedimented terra cotta window lintels on outer bays; terra cotta dentil cornice; and brick quoining. It is among the best example of the style in Marathon County, and it is one of the few well-designed examples of the style to survive intact to the present day.
The hotel’s identity as an early-twentieth-century urban commercial hotel survives in the efficient interior spatial organization of the building, including a large public lobby with a mezzanine; a dining room that could be expanded into a larger ballroom; upper floors organized by a double-loaded corridor lined with private rooms; leasable commercial storefronts; varied amenities such as a writing room and a barber shop to suit a range of hotel guests; and luxurious interior finishes in the public spaces that conveyed the hotel’s position as place of importance within the community. The Hotel Wausau also reflects the early-twentieth-century focus on fire safety in modern hotels and features a fireproof structural frame with concrete and steel interior stairwells, a steel enclosed exterior fire escape, and fire hoses on each floor. It was the only building in Wausau of its type and reflects an era of progress, economic vitality, and civic pride in the city’s history as a regional metropolis.
The Hotel Wausau retains excellent integrity and has minimal exterior alterations, with all of the character-defining features of the Classical Revival style and the early-twentieth-century hotel property type preserved. The most extensive interior alteration to the building occurred in the early 1970s when interior partition walls among the upper floor guest rooms were reconfigured to create ninety-two apartments. This interior alteration facilitated the continued use of the building while preserving the identifying features of the early-twentieth-century urban hotel property type.
Preservation Activities
The Hotel Wausau will be rehabilitated into affordable housing. The proposed rehabilitation will follow the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation. Historic tax credits will help finance the adaptive re-use of the building.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
“Bellis Hotel at Wausau to Change Hands.” The Marshfield Daily News, December 3, 1923.
“Big Hotel Makes Valued Addition to Civic Growth.” Wausau Daily Herald, “Wausau Hotel Edition,” Volume 18, Number 195, July 18, 1925.
“Boost for a Great Wausau and the Million Dollar Hotel.” Wausau Daily Herald, December 15, 1923.
“Edgar Village Hall, Marathon County, Wisconsin.” National Register of Historic Places, 2000.
“Former hotel has new name.” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, August 26, 1975.
Davidson, Lisa Pfueller. “Early Twentieth-Century Hotel Architects and the Origins of Standardization.” The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts (Vol.25: 2005), 72-103.
_____. “A Service Machine": Hotel Guests and the Development of an Early-Twentieth-Century Building Type.” Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture (Vol. 10: Building Environments, 2005): 113-129.
“Formal Opening of Hotel Wausau Last Night and Tonight.” Wausau Daily Herald, “Wausau Hotel Edition,” Volume 18, Number 195, July 18, 1925.
Freund, Win. “History, Lore of Old Hotel Wausau Explored,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, August 3, 1967.
“Grand Opening of Hotel Wausau.” Wausau Daily Herald, July 17, 1925.
“Green Bay People Attend Opening of New Wausau Hotel.” Green Bay Press-Gazette, July 20, 1925.
Holabird & Roche, “Hotel Wausau,” Original plans, 1924.
“Hotel Architect Making a Survey.” Wausau Daily Herald, April 4, 1924.
“Hotel Barber Shop is Modern.” Wausau Daily Herald, “Wausau Hotel Edition,” Volume 18, Number 195, July 18, 1925.
“Hotel Bellis Improvements,” Wausau Pilot, August 19, 1902.
“Hotel Builder Completes Chain in Hotel Wausau.” Wausau Daily Herald, “Wausau Hotel Edition,” Volume 18, Number 195, July 18, 1925.
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“The Hotel Wausau of Wausau, Wisconsin.” The Hotel Monthly (1924): 52-57.
“Hotel Wausau to be Name of New Hotel.” Wausau Daily Herald, February 25, 1924.
Jakle, John A. and Keith A. Sculle. “The American Hotel in Postcard Advertising: An Image Gallery.” Material Culture (Vol.37, No.2: Fall 2005), 1-25.
“Many Concerns Furnish Help in Mammoth Hotel.” Wausau Daily Herald, “Wausau Hotel Edition,” Volume 18, Number 195, July 18, 1925.
“Motor Hotel Wausau to cease renting rooms.” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, December 16, 1974.
Pfister, Dewey. “Hotel Wausau to Be Luxury Motor Inn, Convention Center,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, August 3, 1967.
National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. “Hotel Northland,” Green Bay, Wisconsin. National Park Service, Washington, D.C., Ref no.13000860.
“Noted Concern Furnished Hotel in Rich Fashion.” Wausau Daily Herald, “Wausau Hotel Edition,” Volume 18, Number 195, July 18, 1925.
“Plan Convention Center at Motor Hotel Wausau.” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, February 28, 1969.
“Plan to Build a New Ten Story Hotel at Wausau.” The Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune, May 21, 1923.
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, Sheet 14, 1912. Library of Congress Geography and Map Division, Washington, D.C.
Svetlik, Paul D. Big Bull Falls – Historic Downtown Wausau: A Guide to Wausau’s Historic Downtown Buildings. Madison, WI: Wisconsin Historical Society, 2010.
“Walter Schroeder Opens New Hotel at Wausau, Wisconsin,” Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle, July 17, 1925.
“Wausau Soon Will Have New Hotel.” The Appleton Post-Crescent, March 4, 1924.
“Wausau’s Newest Hostelry Initiates the City’s Sky Line.” Wausau Daily Herald, “Wausau Hotel Edition,” Volume 18, Number 195, July 18, 1925.
Wisconsin Historical Society. Architecture and History Inventory, https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records?facets=CATEGORIES%3a%22Architecture+and+History+ Inventory%22. Form 10-900-a
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Wisconsin State Board of Health. “Wausau,” in Manual and Directory of Wisconsin Hotels. Madison, WI: The State Board of Health, 1922.
Wodalski, Ed. “Hotel Wausau: Downtown landmark has served community well,” Wausau Daily Herald, November 9, 1986.
Wyatt, Barbara, ed. “Architectural Styles.” Cultural Resource Management in Wisconsin: A Manual for Historic Properties (Madison, WI: The State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1986), Vol ?.
Yorkson, Lee I. “Wausau.” 1927 Wausau City Directory. Wright Directory Co., 1927. Form 10-900-a
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Verbal Boundary Description:
The National Register boundary corresponds to the legal parcel, which reads as follows: “all of Block 14 except E 85' of S 164' also except W 23' of N 70' of Lot 8.”
The boundary is shown on the accompanying Boundary Map in Figure 1.
Boundary Justification:
The National Register boundary corresponds to the current legal parcel, which contains the Hotel Wausau and the paved parking lot on the south side of the building. The parking lot was created in the 1960s and 1970s and is a non-contributing structure.
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Photo Log Name of Property: Hotel Wausau City or Vicinity: Wausau County: Marathon State: Wisconsin Photographer: John Cramer Date Photographed: December 2018
Location of Original Digital Files: State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society
Photo 1 East and north facades Camera facing southwest
Photo 2 North and west facades Camera facing southeast
Photo 3 North façade, storefront detail Camera facing southwest
Photo 4 North façade, storefront/hotel entrance detail Camera facing south
Photo 5 North façade, storefront detail Camera facing south
Photo 6 North façade, cornice and pediment detail Camera facing southwest
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Photo 7 South façade Camera facing northeast
Photo 8 First floor, vestibule Camera facing southwest
Photo 9 First floor, retail corridor Camera facing south
Photo 10 First floor, former lounge Camera facing southwest
Photo 11 First floor, dining room Camera facing west
Photo 12 First floor, lobby Camera facing west
Photo 13 First floor, lobby stair Camera facing south
Photo 14 Second floor, elevator lobby Camera facing southwest
Photo 15 Second floor, corridor and balconettes over lobby Camera facing west Form 10-900-a
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Photo 16 Third floor, corridor Camera facing west
Photo 17 Third floor, elevator lobby Camera facing south
Photo 18 Third floor, typical unit Camera facing southwest
Photo 19 Fourth floor, typical elevator lobby Camera facing southwest
Photo 20 Fourth floor, typical unit Camera facing south
Photo 21 Fourth floor, central stair Camera facing south
Photo 22 Basement, elevator lobby Camera facing northwest
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List of Figures
Figure 1. Hotel Wausau, Boundary Map
Figure 2. Hotel Wausau, Exterior Photos
Figure 3. Hotel Wausau, Interior Photos, Basement
Figure 4. Hotel Wausau, Interior Photos, First Floor
Figure 5. Hotel Wausau, Interior Photos, Second Floor
Figure 6. Hotel Wausau, Interior Photos, Third Floor
Figure 7. Hotel Wausau, Fourth Floor/Typical Upper Floor
Figure 8. Hotel Wausau, 221 Scott Street, Context Map
Figure 9. 1954 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, Plate 19
Figure 10. Exterior rendering of Hotel Wausau, Holabird & Roche, 1924
Figure 11. Hotel Wausau exterior, 1925
Figure 12. Schroeder hotel chain postcard, 1920s
Figure 13. Hotel Wausau exterior and surrounding downtown context, c. 1930s
Figure 14. Hotel Wausau exterior, 1945
Figure 15. Hotel Wausau exterior and surrounding downtown context, 1960s
Figure 16. Hotel Wausau banquet room, 1940s
Figure 17. North façade elevation drawing, Holabird & Roche, 1924
Figure 18. Rear/south façade elevation drawing, Holabird & Roche, 1924
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Figure 1. Hotel Wausau, Boundary Map. Not to Scale. Source: Marathon County Treasurer, September 2020
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Figure 2. Hotel Wausau, Exterior Photos Source: MacRostie Historic Advisors, LLC Form 10-900-a
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Figure 3. Hotel Wausau, Interior Photos, Basement Source: MacRostie Historic Advisors, LLC Form 10-900-a
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Figure 4. Hotel Wausau, Interior Photos, First Floor Source: MacRostie Historic Advisors, LLC Form 10-900-a
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Figure 5. Hotel Wausau, Interior Photos, Second Floor Source: MacRostie Historic Advisors, LLC Form 10-900-a
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Figure 6. Hotel Wausau, Interior Photos, Third Floor Source: MacRostie Historic Advisors, LLC
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Figure 7. Hotel Wausau, Fourth Floor/Typical Upper Floor Source: MacRostie Historic Advisors, LLC
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Figure 8. Hotel Wausau, 221 Scott Street. Context Map. Source: Google Maps, 2020
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Figure 9. 1954 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, Plate 19 Source: Library of Congress
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Figure 10. Exterior rendering of Hotel Wausau, Holabird & Roche, 1924 Source: Courtesy of the Marathon County Historical Society
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Figure 11. Hotel Wausau exterior, 1925 Source: Courtesy of the Marathon County Historical Society
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Figure 12. Schroeder hotel chain postcard, 1920s Source: Courtesy of the Marathon County Historical Society
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Figure 13. Hotel Wausau exterior and surrounding downtown context, c. 1930s Source: Courtesy of the Marathon County Historical Society
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Figure 14. Hotel Wausau exterior, 1945 Source: eBay
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Figure 15. Hotel Wausau exterior and surrounding downtown context, 1960s Source: eBay
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Figure 16. Hotel Wausau banquet room, 1940s Source: Courtesy of the Marathon County Historical Society
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Figure 17. North façade elevation drawing, Holabird & Roche, 1924 Source: Courtesy of the Marathon County Historical Society
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Figure 18. Rear/south façade elevation drawing, Holabird & Roche, 1924 Source: Courtesy of the Marathon County Historical Society
JAN I I 2021 WISCONSIN H I STORIC AL SOCIETY qt,lrt'\ -l- Ct -l- Co.^-rc,\ f\A(.ils{r! rotrtlof TO: Local and State Officials a".'pz.n\.)
FROM: Daina Penkiunas, State Historic Preservation Officer
RE State and National Register of Historic Places nomination
DATE: January 14,2021
'We are pleased to inform you that the Hotel'Vausau at 221 Scott Street, 'W'ausau, Marathon Counly, W will be considered by the \Wisconsin Historic Preservation Review Board for nomination to the \Tisconsin State Register of Historic Places and the National Register of Historic Places.
The nomination will be considered at the'W'isconsin Historic Preservation Review Board meeting on February 19,2021 as aZoom'W'ebinar. The enclosed agenda gives the time of the full board meering and link to the registration page.
Any comments or questions should be directed to Peggy Veregin at (608) 264-6501 or email at Peggy.Veregin@\WisconsinHisrory.org.
Collecting, Preserving, and Sharing Stories since 1846 816 State Streer Madison, Wisconsin bZ706
wisconsin history.org WISCONSIN State Historic Preservation Review Board H Meeting I STORICAL Wisconsin Historical Society SOCIETY Zoom Webinar Meeting February 19,2021
AGEI\DA
Times as Noted COMMITTEE MEf,TINGS lndividual nominations for this remote board meeting will be presented to the full Review Board.
To register to aftend this meeting via Zoom, please go to this webpage: httos://wih ist.orq/HPRB
9:00 AM-12:00 FULL REVIEW BOARD MEETING The full board votes on both individual properties and districts.
Hillsboro Condensed Milk Company, Hillsboro, Vernon County (H) St. Mary's Catholic Church Comptex, Oshkosh, Winnebago County (AR) Sparta High School, Sparta, Monroe County (H) Hotel Wausau, Wausau, Marathon County (AR) Holy Family Roman Catholic Church Complex, Cudahy, Milwaukee County (AR) Kiel Mill, Kiel, Manitowoc County (H) Sheboygan Falls School, Sheboygan Falls, Sheboygan County (H) Caledonia Street Commercial Historic District, La Crosse, La Crosse Gounty Black River Falls Commercial Historic District, Black River Falls, Jackson County Mansion Street VVWII Defense Housing Historic District, De pere, Brown County
12:00 - 1:00 PM LUNCH BREAK FOR BOARD Mf,MBERS l:00 PM - Rf,YIEW BOARD BUSINESS MEETING Call to order Minutes of Review Board Meeting on November 20, 2O2O Report by Chairperson Young Approval ol 2021 CLG Subgrants Tax Credit Projects Highlights Reports by SHPO and Staff Adjournment *All meetings are open to the public* *** Action may be trken on any item listed on the agenda***