Sawyer Family

Grand Staircase

Parlor

Library

Dining Room

Den

Other Rooms

Several galleries of the Oshkosh Public Museum are located in an English Tudor Revival residence built in 1908 for Edgar P. Sawyer, a lumber baron, banker, and businessman. William Waters, a prominent local architect, designed the home. With its gabled roof, fluted chimneys, Bedford stone carriage port, and elevator, the home was considered to be the finest in Oshkosh.


The Sawyer home is a wonderful example of Edwardian elegance. The architect used hardwoods that revealed Edgar Sawyer's keen appreciation of fine lumber. African mahogany, Central American primavera, American chestnut, maple, and quarter-sawn oak finished the first floor interiors. New York's famous Tiffany Studios designed the interior accents: stained glass, bronze grilles, light fixtures, and wall coverings.

The house had all the modern conveniences of the time- electrical and gas service, a modern coal-fired boiler that brought hot water heat to all four floors, and an automatic elevator produced by the Otis company that also serviced all four floors.

Today the Sawyer home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The quality and accuracy of the interior restoration completed after the 1994 museum fire earned the Oshkosh Public Museum awards from both the Wisconsin Trust for Historic Preservation and the American Association for State and Local History.

Take a look at what some of the rooms originally looked like when the Sawyers lived in the house and see what exhibits they contain today.