Welcome to the house of your dreams! Rosson house is the only remaining Victorian mansion in Phoenix. Originally, the location of all those Phoenix sky scrapers was a small Victorian town. When the area we know and love as Downtown Phoenix became a terrifying place to walk in the daytime, the city tore down nearly all the Victorian and Prohibition era homes and replaced them with high-end infrastructure. Only one block was left, and the only mansion on the block was Rosson House. Today, my friend Ally and I explored Rosson House!
Although the building has retained the name of the original owner for well over a century, the Rosson family actually only lived in the home for a couple of years. However, their lifestyle is still evident throughout the house. The man of the house was a doctor, and he practiced within the home.
I thought it was very cool to see the old doctor’s office. Ben’s experience with becoming a doctor is so much different than Mr. Rosson’s was! In the Victorian era, people knew so little about the human body that becoming a doctor only required four classes. Ben’s been working nonstop at medical school for two years, and he’s only half way done! I guess they didn’t know much about microbiology back then.
What you see in the photo above is a doorbell. This doorbell is located in the master bedroom so that Dr. Rosson could be awakened in the middle of the night to attend to emergencies. Aside from the disruptive doorbell, the master was really a very nice room, complete with a lovely carved mantle and typical wooden Victorian furniture.
Exactly adjacent to the master bedroom is the nursery. The Rosson House Museum displays period toys and clothing for visitors to admire.
The toys in the room were shockingly heavy! One woman in our tour commented, “Wow, my kids would kill each other with these.”
Although people generally had a whole passel of kids in the Victorian era, five children were the most the house ever saw at once. Still, it had the fairly spacious Victorian bedrooms that could house several children at a time! One of the bedrooms appeared to be a servant’s quarters, since it was less lavishly decorated than the rest of the house.
The last upstairs room had a visiting display of soldier’s outfits in it. It also featured a beautiful, ornate vase made from a used artillery shell. Apparently, this is a form of World War II “trench art,” which is a type of creativity that stems from the consequences of war.
Of course, you can’t forget about the bathroom– you know, the one that 19 people shared during Rosson House’s shabby boarding house days. This place took borders starting at the beginning of Prohibition.
Aside from the personal family rooms in the Rosson House, there are, of course, the typical Victorian elements: the sitting parlor, the showy staircase, and needlepoint corner, and more. Below, you can see photos of the parlor. Of course, a few snaps hardly do it justice.
The Parlor was designed to impress visitors with its opulence. Note the ornate wallpaper, gold-painted ceiling with relief designs, the hand-cut wood floor motifs, and the red window. Now, that red glass window may look out of place, but Victorian-era people would have known that red stained glass is very special. In fact, to get real red stained glass like this, you have to use actual gold. You can imagine how pricey this would be.
Check out the kitchen and sewing corner! Can you imagine clothing and feeding an entire household with these tiny spaces?
I haven’t shown you the best and weirdest things yet. Let’s start with my personal favorite, the bizarre portrait. The picture is nice, but check out the flowers. Do you know what that’s made of? Human hair! For real! Apparently, girls used to collect the hair out of their brushes and make it into needlepoint projects and art.
Here are a handful of other cool things in the house: a Bible, the telephone, and the washbasin. Have I mentioned how glad I am to be a 21st Century woman? I’m so glad I get to let a machine do all the work when I wash my clothes!
Take a look at this optical toy! It makes the scenes stand out in 3D. Ally reminded me that we used to have something like this when we were kids, but they were plastic.
We had such a great time on this tour! The woman at the office was so nice and gave us tons of information before we even started. Our tour guide was awesome, too!
I can’t believe it took me so long to visit. This is definitely a must-visit Phoenix location. I learned a whole new side to Phoenix history, and now I understand my home city like I never have before. Phoenix hasn’t always been all chrome and glass! There was a time when life was slower, the city was smaller, and staircases came in an assembly kit by train.
Next time you have the chance, check it out! If you’re not in Phoenix any time soon, why not go on a history excursion in your home town? It’s an awesome experience!
