| Additional Information: | St. John's Episcopal Church is a fine example of English Neo-Gothic Revival church design and has much integrity both inside and out. The granite/stucco complex is humbly conceived with little detailing other than simple buttreses along the nave of the church. The exterior of the Tudor Revival parish house as a bay window on the street facade. The interior exhibits much quality woodwork and the windows are diamond paned - details which finely complete the Tudor styling.
The 1867 church of St. John's was moved to the back of the lot and sheathed in Tudor style facing when the present sanctuary was built in 1914. The parish house was built in 1922.
2018 survey report write-up: This U-shaped complex is comprised of an English-inspired, Neo-Gothic Revival church on the east, an English Tudor Revival-style rectory wing on the west, as well as a connecting and cloistered Tudor Revival-style Guild Hall wing at the rear. A low stone wall runs along McClellan Street to encapsulate the courtyard, less a central entrance opening. Regarding the church, this low-lying, front-gabled structure is faced with locally quarried (in the Town of Hatley) rubble ashlar (fieldstone). The entrance elevation is set off by stone buttressing and features a wooden, double-door entrance that is set beneath a large Gothic-arched, stained-glass focal window with tracery. Side walls are delineated by buttressing that alternates with Gothic-arched windows with tracery. In addition to the front entrance, a side entry provides access directly to the side chapel. The two-story rectory wing on the west is faced with rubble stone on the first floor, while the upper hollow tile walls are finished with stucco. A two-story window bay extends from the front of the wing, while a projecting and gabled entrance with wooden bracket trim is located along the building’s east elevation. The rear one-story Guild Hall wing is side gabled and is also sheathed with fieldstone. The original open cloister along this wing is evident but has been enclosed.
Designed by Chromaster, Speer & Swarthout, St. John’s Episcopal Church was built in 1914, while the rectory wing, designed by Oppenhamer & Obel, was completed in 1922. The first Episcopal services in Wausau were held at the Forest House (hotel) in 1854. In 1858, construction of a church began (at the subject location); however, it was never completed and, ultimately destroyed following a windstorm in 1863. Four years later, a church was built; that structure served the congregation until 1914. It was then moved to the rear of the lot and attached to the westward extending wing of the new church, stuccoed and, thereafter, used as a Guild Hall. Construction was completed by the Herman Construction Company of Antigo. In May 1922, construction of the $23,000 rectory wing began. Although anticipated to be completed and occupied by September, it was ultimately finished in late November/early December; dedication, however, did not occur until May 1923. At this time, the wing extending from the church (which included the old church) was extended further west to fully connect with the rectory and form the existing U-shape, which was conceived as of the 1914 church construction. In 1965, the rectory was remodeled into office and classroom space. |
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| Bibliographic References: | (A) D. Dunbar Schuetz, "Talk of Honor Sunday, April 27, 1975."
Wausau Daily Herald 6/19/2002.
Wausau Daily Herald 6/12/2002.
Citations for the 2018 report information below: “Work Started on St. John’s Church,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, 30 September 1914, 5/3; “Build Rectory for St. John’s,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, 5 May 1922, 1/1; Malaguti & Norton, “Final Report: Intensive Historic Survey,” 182.
City in the Pinery, A Guide to Wausau's Architecture, The City of Wausau, 1984. |
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