Early Pennsylvania German Houses
A Bibliography
with a Guide to Online Texts:

Image above: The 1719 Herr House. Painting by Mary Charles.

1920s: Alfred Lawrence Kocher: A Modernist Architect,
with a Passion for Historic Preservation:

Images above: Herr House before restoration: "Early Architecture of Pennsylvania", Complete text online. , Kocher and Frey's 1931 Aluminaire House, NYit.edu. Portrait of A. Lawrence Kocher: Black Mountain.
"The Early Architecture of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania", Journal of the Lancaster County Historical Society, 1920, Complete text online.

  • "Early Architecture of Pennsylvania", 1920-22, Architectural Record, Complete text online.

  • "The Early Architecture of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania", Journal of the Lancaster County Historical Society, 1920, Complete text online.

 The Landmark 1931 Book Early Domestic Architecture of Pennsylvania, 
by Architect Eleanor Raymond:

Images above: Portrait of Architect Eleanor Raymond, WinchesterHistoricalSociety,  Lancaster County images from Book Early Domestic Architecture of Pennsylvania: A chevron door, and a Hinkletown springhouse, Complete text online.

Eleanor Raymond was a renowned architect from Massachusetts whose professional career lasted more than 50 years. Her 1931 photographic survey of Pennsylvania's early architecture will always be a classic.
Early Domestic Architecture of Pennsylvania, University of Illinois, 1931, Complete text online.

 G. Edwin Brumbaugh:  His Groundbreaking 1933 Publication -
Colonial Architecture of the Pennsylvania Germans:

Images above: Ephrata Cloister houses in Colonial Architecture of the Pennsylvania German, Complete text online.  Portrait of G. Edwin Brumbaugh: Emily Wolf /UPenn.edu.

George Edwin Brumbaugh was "the first author to concentrate on Pennsylvania German architecture and analyze it for its own merits." (Quote: Scott Swank, Arts of the Pennsylvania Germans, 1983, p. 35. Complete text online.)

In 1931 Brumbaugh presented a paper on this subject at a Pennsylvania German Society meeting in Reading, PA. He published the work two years later. Architect Brumbaugh specialized in historic restoration. His work includes the Ephrata Cloister and the Daniel Boone Homestead.

  • Colonial Architecture of the Pennsylvania Germans, Pennsylvania German Society, 1933, Complete text online.

 1962: Robert C. Bucher Defines the Continental Central-Chimney House:

Images above: Bertolet-Schneider Cabin (Oley Valley) and floorplan: "The Continental Log House" Complete text online.  Portrait of Robert Bucher: Mennonite Heritage Center.

In 1962 Robert Bucher published his pioneering article, "The Continental Log House", exploring Pennsylvania's central-chimney Germanic houses. This article defined this house type. All roads lead back to Robert Bucher, in this field of vernacular Pennsylvania German architecture.

 Henry H. Glassie: A Godfather of Vernacular Architecture:

Images above: Book cover and Lehigh County house: Patterns in the Material Folk Culture... Complete text online.  Portrait of Henry Glassie: Indiana University.

Henry Glassie, PhD is a guiding light in the field of Pennsylvania vernacular architecture. Much local research in this field includes footnotes to Henry Glassie. His publications that discuss our early Germanic architecture include:

  • "A Central Chimney Continental Log House", Pennsylvania Folklife, 1968, Complete text online.

  • Pattern in the Material Folk Culture of the Eastern United States, Philadelphia: University 
    of Pennsylvania Press, 1968, Complete text online.

  • "The Double Crib Barn in South Central Pennsylvania", Pioneer America, Four parts, 1969-70, Complete text online.

  • Eighteenth-Century Cultural Process in Delaware Valley Folk Building, University of Chicago Press, Winterthur Portfolio, 1972, Complete text online.

 Architect John Milner: 1975: Introduces Germanic Floorplan Names:
Flurküchenhaus (Corridor-Kitchen House), Kreuzhaus (Cross House),
durchgängiges Haus (Center Corridor House):

Images above: Portrait of Architect John Milner. Text excerpt: "Germanic Architecture in the New World", JSTOR, 1975. Herr House: Fletcher Macneill, Lancaster New Era.

Historians credit architect John D. Milner with introducing German-language names for house types to an American audience. He used the words Flurküchenhaus [corridor-kitchen house], Kreuzhaus [cross house], and durchgängiges Haus [center corridor house] in a 1975 article in the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. These house-type names had previously been used by historians in Europe. John Milner led the restoration of the Herr House in 1972.

  • The Restoration of the Hans Herr House..., 1972, Lancaster Mennonite Conference Historical Society, LancasterHistory.

  • "Germanic Architecture in the New World", Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 1975, JSTOR.

 Charles Bergengren: Pennsylvania's Germanic House Types:

Images above: ca. 1760 Brecht House, Schaefferstown, "The Cycle of Transformations...", Complete text online.  Portrait of Charles Bergengren: Youtube. 

Charles Bergengren, PhD taught folk art, avant-garde film, and art history at the Cleveland Institute of Art. His published works focus on Pennsylvania's Germanic house types. He conducted extensive fieldwork in Schaefferstown, Lebanon County, to document the town's historic homes.

  • "The Cycle of Transformations in the Houses of Schaefferstown Pennsylvania, Houses", 1991, Complete text online.

  • "From Lovers to Murders: The Etiquette of Entry and the Social implications of House Form", 1994, Complete text online.

  • "The Physical Thing Itself: Architectural / Stylistic / Material Aspects of the Gemberling-Rex Tavern / House Schaefferstown", 2004, Complete text online.

  • "House Types", Architecture and Landscape of the Pennsylvania Germans, 1720 - 1920, Guidebook for the Vernacular Architecture Forum Annual Conference, 2004.

  Cynthia Falk - Professor of Material Culture:

Images above: Architecture and Artifacts of the Pennsylvania Germans, PSUpress.  Downhouser House Coventry Township in "Symbols of Assimilation or Status" (Complete text online).  Portrait of Cynthia Falk: Cooperstown Graduate Program.

Cynthia Falk, PhD is a professor of material culture with The Cooperstown Graduate Program, SUNY Oneonta in New York. The courses she instructs include America's tangible heritage and historic preservation.

  • Symbols of Assimilation or Status?: The Meanings of Eighteenth-Century Houses in Coventry Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, 1998, Complete text online.

  • Architecture and Artifacts of the Pennsylvania Germans: Constructing Identity in Early America, 2008, PSU Press.

  • "The Gemberling-Rex House: From Eighteenth-Century Tavern to Ninteenth-Century Home...", 2008, Complete text online.

  • Vernacular Architecture Forum, Buildings and Landscapes, co-editor, 2012-2017

  Sally McMurry: Emerita Professor of American History:

Images above: Architecture and Landscape of the Pennsylvania Germans, Zeller House in Newmanstown: UPenn.edu, Portrait of Sally McMurry, PSU.edu.

Sally McMurry, PhD is an emerita professor of American history at Penn State University. She is a cultural historian who specializes in the study of agriculture, landscape, vernacular architecture, and food systems.

 Gabrielle Lanier: Historical Landscapes and Vernacular Architecture: 

Images above: Lancaster County Houses: Left and Center: The 1769 Eby House, Right: The 1813 Pfautz House, The Delaware Valley in the Early Republic. (Complete text online.)

Gabriel Lanier, PhD is a professor at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Her fields of specialty include cultural landscapes, vernacular architecture, historic preservation, and material culture,

  • The Delaware Valley in the Early Republic: Architecture, Landscape, and Regional Identity, 2001, Complete text online.

  •  Everyday Architecture of the Mid-Atlantic: Looking at Buildings and Landscapes. With Bernard L. Herman. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997.

 Henry J. Kauffman: Professor at Millersville University: 

Images above: Landisville Meetinghouse, floorplan, portrait of Henry J. Kauffman: Architecture of the Pennsylvania Dutch Country 1700 - 1900, Masthof.

Henry Kauffman was a prolific writer and an enthusiastic antiquarian. He authored many books and articles about Pennsylvania folklife. He donated more than 1,000 artifacts to Lancaster's Historic Rock Ford to create the Kauffman Museum.

 John J. Snyder Jr.:  Lancaster Antiquarian: 

Images above: Manheim's Fasig House, Lititz's Mueller House: Lancaster Architecture 1719 - 1927, Historic Preservation Trust, Portrait of John Snyder Jr: LancasterOnline.com.

John Snyder's achievements in historical research and antiques collecting are in a league of their own. He lived his life with an unwavering focus on Lancaster's early history. He donated his unparalleled collection of local antiques to Lancaster's Historic Rock Ford and to other Pennsylvania museums.

Helmut Seebach: Historian and Publisher in Mainz, Germany
An Authority on Folklife of the Pfalz:

Images above: Siedlung, Haus und Hof in der Pfalz, Backstelz Verlag. Portrait courtesy of Helmut Seebach.

Helmut Seebach has authored and published numerous books on the history of the Palatinate region of Germany, which was the homeland of many emigrants to Pennsylvania. His published works include extensive research on early Swiss emigration to the Pfalz and to North America. His publishing company is Backstelz Verlag.

  • Geschichte der Pfälzischen Landwirtschaft (History of Palatine Agriculture), 2005. Backstelz Verlag.

  • Das Schindelhaus im Pfälzerwald (The Shingle House in the Palatine Forest), 2013, Backstelz Verlag.

  • Siedlung, Haus und Hof in der Pflaz (Settlement, House and Farm in the Pfalz), 2019, Backstelz Verlag.

  • Schweizer - Pfälzer - Palatines (Swiss - Palatine - Palatines), 2021, Backstelz Verlag.

 Ed Chappell: Colonial Williamsburg's Director of Architectural Research.
Germanic Architecture of the Shenandoah Valley:

Images above: Andrew Keyser House, "Acculturation in the Shenandoah Valley...", Complete text online. Portrait of Ed Chappell: Wm.edu.

Edward Chappell was Colonial Williamsburg's leading authority on architectural research and archaeology. He also did extensive fieldwork in the Shenandoah Valley to document the vernacular architecture of the Germanic settlers who emigrated there from Pennsylvania.

  • "Cultural Change in the Shenandoah Valley: Northern Augusta County Houses before 1861," 1977, M. A. thesis, University of Virginia.

  • "Acculturation in the Shenandoah Valley: Rhenish Houses of the Massanutten Settlement", Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 1980, Complete text online.