Dr. Roland Lee Rosson was a doctor and a politician who came to Phoenix in 1879. His house was built between 1894 and 1895 in the Stick-Eastlake Queen Anne style, designed by San Francisco architect A. P. Petit. Petit died in the month it was finished.
Rosson was elected mayor of Phoenix on May 7, 1895, but after trouble with the city council he resigned on April 6, 1896. The house changed hands many times before the City of Phoenix bought it and restored it.
The house mixes styles from different cultures, including a Chinese moon gate, Italian hooded windows and a French octagonal turret. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.