Richard C. Burtis House

The Richard C. Burtis House or Wedding Cake House is a Historic Site in Tuscola County, Michigan. The two-story Second Empire building was built from 1879 to 1880 for Richard C. Burtis, a shoemaker and local landowner. Ornamentation includes brackets and a decorative frieze supporting a mansard roof with decorative slate shingle. A bay window topped by a steep octagonal tower dominates the front facade.HistoryWork began in 1879 on 40 acres on the highest point in Tuscola County, Michigan. Located about 1/4th mile south of Caro Rd. in the logging village of Watrousville. Construction was finished in 1880 The house was designated a Michigan State Historic Site on November 15, 1973. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 26, 1975.BurtisRichard C. Burtis was born in Pittstown, near Troy, New York, in April 1824. While quite young, Burtis moved with his parents to Hoosick Falls, N.Y. When Burtis was only five years old, his father died. Burtis's mother and family soon moved to Troy, New York, where they resided about six years. Then they moved to Ashtabula County, Ohio, returning to Troy, New York in 1838. Burtis accepted a position in a grocery store, where he remained three years, at which point he went to Ithaca, New York and learned the shoemakers’ trade. He remained there three-and-a-half years and worked in nearly all of the Eastern cities for the following fifteen years.In 1855, Burtis went to Michigan on a hunting expedition, and two years later relocated to Watrousville, Tuscola County, where he engaged in shoemaking up to 1862. Burtis's brother died in 1862, and Burtis took ownership with his sister, Sara, in a general store. After seven years, Burtis took full ownership of the entire stock and conducted the store alone about thirteen years until he retired in 1882.