1892 Newspaper Describes the Building’s Renovations:

  Above: The Wohlsen stairway leads up into the church sanctuary. The stair landing showcases a stained-glass window whose history has mostly been lost in time. The window’s modern design is like a stylized red rose of Lancaster, set in a rectangular rose window.
The stained-glass window predates 1914. I attribute its design to Horace Rudy of York, who was owner and art director for the Rudy Brothers’ stained-glass studios. Rudy worked closely with this region’s premier architects and builders. He created stained-glass windows for many of Lancaster’s finest homes and churches of that era.
Also in the 1890s William Wohlsen commissioned Rudy to create magnificent stained-glass windows for the Wohlsen family’s home on West Chestnut Street, Lancaster. The modernized red-rose motif of this church window, above, also appears in the stained-glass window on the stair landing of that Wohlsen home. (See photos below.) Future research might reveal that Horace Rudy also was the designer of First Reformed Church’s two stained-glass cherub windows.
The stone tablet on the church’s stair landing reads, “How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts.” This is Psalm 84, which was a theme of the consecration service in 1736 during the dedication of this congregation’s first church building, the log church.

William Wohlsen (1847 - 1912) was the founder of the William Wohlsen Planing Mill which produced some of Lancaster’s finest architectural woodwork.
His brother, Herman F. Wohlsen, was a builder and contractor. Herman Wohlsen’s carpentry business became today’s Wohlsen Construction Company, with offices throughout the Mid-Atlantic Region. In 1905 Herman Wohlsen was contractor for another renovation at First Reformed Church. He supervised the construction of new stairways in the building’s two towers. These oak stairs repeat the design of the building’s central staircase which was installed previously during the renovation of 1891.

William Wohlsen’s Planing Mill Converted into Apartments:

  In 2011 Sam Beiler, former owner of Auntie Anne’s Pretzels, purchased the building that once housed the William Wohlsen Planing Mill. Beiler transformed the building into luxury apartments named Streetscape Lofts. By that time the building had seen much deterioration. Beiler’s development company turned Wohlsen’s Planing Mill into a showcase of urban adaptive reuse.

 1893: William Wohlsen Built his Family’s Magnificent Home in Lancaster
And Created Some of the Finest Woodwork in the City for this House:

  Above: William Wohlsen built this exceptional stairway in his family’s 1893 house. The house displays the finest woodwork created at his planing mill, including woods such as bird’s eye maple, and chestnut. William Wohlsen lived here with wife Catherine (Klenck) Wohlsen and their family.

  Above: Exterior view of William Wohlsen’s home at 537 West Chestnut Street, Lancaster. Designed by Architect C. Emlen Urban. Built in 1893.

 1905: Builder / Contracter Herman Wohlsen (William’s Brother)
Supervised Additional Construction at First Reformed,
Including Two Stairways in the Church Towers:

  Herman F. Wohlsen (1861 - 1941) was one of Lancaster’s most prominent builders and carpentry contractors. Early in his career he was in business with his brother, William Wohlsen, in the Wohlsen Planing Mill. In 1890 Herman Wohlsen began his buiding-and-contracting company.
He went on to construct numerous landmark buildings in Lancaster, including the Woolworth Building, the Brunswick Hotel, the Y. M. C. A., and most of the buildings for the Armstrong Cork Company. Herman Wohlsen’s company became today’s Wohlsen Construction Company.

 1905 Newspaper Article
Describes the Tower Stairways and Herman Wohlsen as Contractor:

 Herman Wohlsen’s Home on West Orange St., Lancaster
He built it in 1902.:

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