848 W. Fifth Street
Contributing, 1909
Standing atop a terraced lawn overlooking Fifth Street, the Rosenbacher House is one of the grandest of the Neo-Classical Revival dwellings in Winston-Salem and is one of only several examples of the style in the West End. The large two-story weatherboarded house is dominated by a monumental two-story central portico with Corinthian columns and a full pedimented entablature. Enhancing the Classical design of the facade are one-story curved porches with Ionic columns, turned balustrades, and modillioned cornices which run from the portico to the front corners of the house. At second story height, a modillioned cornice encircles the house beneath the truncated hip roof, The fenestration of the house is exceptional, with the central entrance boasting double-leaf doors and leaded and beveled glass sidelights and fanlight transom, and the large front and side windows of the first story having beautiful round and segmental-arched leaded glass transoms.
The interior of the house is as exceptional as the exterior. The large front hall is separated from the rear stair hall by a grandiose Ionic arcade, and segmental-arched sliding pocket doors serve as openings between the major rooms. The stair is an ornate Colonial Revival one which rises in a transverse manner. One of the most impressive rooms in the house is the dining room, characterized by a handsome Colonial Revival paneled mantel and overmantel, a high paneled wainscot topped by a plate rail, a boxed beam ceiling, and what appear to be original wallpaper borders. At the rear of the house is a large double room divided by an Ionic archway.
In 1909 Mrs. Carrie Rosenbacher, widow of Sigmund Rosenbacher, purchased the western half of Mrs. Jennie D. Kerner’s lot (home to right in map below), and the following year she and Alladin, Fannie, Otto, and Sandel Rosenbacher were listed at this location in the city directory. The family was associated with Rosenbacher & Brothers, a successful clothing store in Winston. By 1946 only Sandel Rosenbacher was living in the house, but the family retained ownership until 1975. (D, CD)
1912 Sanborn Map, page 15 at “848” W 5th
The Rosenbacher house underwent significant renovation around 2015 and was a featured property on the West End Association Holiday Homes Tour in 2016.