342 North Duke Street Lancaster, PA

This historic townhouse is an icon of both loss and survival. It was designed ca. 1893 by Lancaster’s most important homegrown architect, C. Emlen Urban. During that era this was the home of cigar manufacturer John B. Oblinger and wife Mary (Stewart) Oblinger.
This landmark home was a showcase of Emlen Urban’s important architectural contributions to the city. Then the townhouse was converted to apartments by the 1950s. It was an era before Lancaster’s historic preservation ordinances. So the building was stripped of many of its finest original details. (See second photo here.)
The building lost its wraparound porch and its bowfront portico with six Ionic columns. It lost its front balcony and its roof balustrade. The grassy lawn became a parking lot.
But much of the original golden-brick building survives. And today, Lancaster’s historic architecture is much better protected.