444 South Queen Street Lancaster, PA
This dramatic Second Empire residence was once home to Lancaster's most important architect, Emlen Urban. His family lived here in the early 1880s when Emlen was a teenager. His father, Amos C. Urban, was a house builder, and built this home ca. 1879.
At that same time, Emlen's father built an equally impressive house next door for his brother, Emlen's uncle, Dr. Benjamin F. W. Urban. That house is also in the Second Empire style. Both houses were the height of architectural fashion at that time.
Today these two historic homes stand on their block like monuments to Lancaster's architectural history. Both houses command much attention, in a neighborhood where the other houses are much less eye catching.