Rosemont House

Nineteenth-century Texas produced relatively few architecturally exotic residences, but Rosemont is certainly an exception to that rule. The Queen Anne style core of the house is fairly conventional, but the onion dome and horseshoe arches of the two-tiered verandas have few parallels among extant contemporaneous residences in Texas, The structure bears a remarkable resemblance to the now-demolished Lowry House in San Antonio designed by James Riely Gordon, one of the most prominent architects in Texas at the time; Gordon was in Waxahachie working on the design for the Ellis County Courthouse at the time of Rosemont's construction and may well have designed the house. Rosemont represents a complete Victorian estate with a tower, greenhouse, carriage house, and privy, all of which are good examples of their building types. The house has had only three ownerships by the locally prominent Moffett, Cox, and Beers families and has had few structural alterations. Finally, it has recently undergone significant rehabilitation/restoration after almost being moved to Old City Park in Dallas.

Burt Ringo Moffett, the local mill owner, purchased eight and a half acres in a subdivision called Bullard Heights, west of Waxahachie, for $2,500. in 1892. Moffett deeded five and three-quarters acres to his wife, Eliza, for business reasons. It was Eliza who gave the house the name "Rosemont" because of the prize-winning roses that she grew there. In the fall of 1894, Mr. J.C. Griggs, a local contractor was hired to construct "the elegant new $12,000. residence in Bullard Heights Addition...among the prettiest and most costly homes in the City." This fine example of Queen Anne with Moorish influence is attributed to J. Riely Gordon who designed the Ellis County Courthouse at the same time. Rosemont and the now-demolished Lowry House in San Antonio displayed similar Moorish influences, gingerbread, and chimney design, as well as displaying all the characteristics of the Queen Anne style with encircling verandas with delicately turned spindle work, asymmetrical multi-planed gabled roofs, decorated metal roof cresting and projecting attic gable with recessed veranda. The interior of the house also displays the characteristics of this architectural style with a central living hall with a hand-carved divided stairway imported from Europe and assembled on-site with wooden wedges. This hallway opens into other ample rooms. The upstairs is similar to the first floor with a central hall and large rooms. There is also a full basement and attic. As stated above, Rosemont is important for its style and its complex outbuildings. The Victorian tower which is stylistically compatible with the main house was built a few years earlier than the house to contain the power source for the subdivision. There is also a brick and glass greenhouse which is in early pictures of the house. The carriage house stands south of the main house as does the privey, although that is not its original location. Apparently, there was a barn but this was torn down in the thirties and replaced by servants' quarters. The tennis courts were once north of the main entrance but this land was sold. As for landscaping, from the relative age of the trees and comparisons with historical photographs, seems to be intact. Rosemont, the showcase for Waxahachie society, was sold in 1930, to the Cox family after sitting vacant for eight years. Mr. and Mrs. M.B. Cox and their fourteen children lived in the house until the deaths of the elder Coxes. The house remain- ed in the family until 1979 when it came up for sale. The house was almost dismantled and moved to Old City Park in Dallas; however, Keith and Helen Beers bought the house and have carefully, through documentation, restored the house which was once a showcase in early Waxahachie.