The houses of Bucks County
Bucks County was settled from the river inward. English Quakers took up land along the Delaware first, and Pennsylvania Germans and Scots-Irish settlers followed into the central and upper county. The result is a county of stone farmhouses, bank barns, and small crossroads villages, many of them still set in open farmland.
The classic Bucks County farmhouse is a two- or three-bay stone house that grew over generations, with gable-end chimneys, a later kitchen wing, and a porch added in the 1800s. In central and upper Bucks, the local stone is often a reddish-brown sandstone or shale, which gives many houses a warmer color than the gray fieldstone to the south. Many farmhouses were stuccoed or whitewashed early on, and the question of whether to keep, repair, or remove that coat comes up often.
Along the Delaware, the character changes. New Hope, Lumberville, Point Pleasant, Erwinna, and Yardley grew up around river crossings and, from the 1830s, the Delaware Canal. Their houses sit close to the road and the water, in stone, frame, and brick, with the tight lots and flood exposure that come with a river town. New Hope’s early twentieth-century art colony also left behind studios and converted farm buildings.
Doylestown, the county seat, has a walkable core of Federal, Italianate, and Victorian houses, plus the unmistakable concrete buildings of Henry Mercer, including Fonthill and the Mercer Museum. Mercer’s Moravian Pottery and Tile Works produced tile that still turns up in fireplaces, floors, and baths across the area. Newtown has one of the county’s older eighteenth-century street plans, and Perkasie grew up as a railroad borough with late-Victorian twins and single houses.
Projects we take on in Bucks County
For families bringing a Bucks County house fully up to date, whole-home remodeling coordinates new systems, reworked layouts, and finishes in one plan, so the house is disturbed once rather than in years of piecemeal projects. Kitchens and baths in older homes get the same care, especially where Mercer tile, original built-ins, or old stone walls are part of the room.
Home additions on Bucks County farmhouses usually follow the house’s own history of growth: a subordinate wing, a connector to a new kitchen or primary suite, or a rebuilt porch. In river towns, additions are also shaped by lot size and floodplain rules.
On open land in Solebury, Buckingham, Plumstead, and the upper county, we build custom homes that take their cues from the surrounding farmhouses and barns.
On the county’s older stone houses, our historic home restoration work often centers on stone and stucco: what to keep, how to repair it with compatible lime-based materials, and how to manage water at the base of old walls. Original sash, plaster, and hardware are repaired and recorded rather than replaced by default.
The county’s bank barns, carriage houses, and spring houses are strong candidates for barn and outbuilding conversions.
Before we price any of this work, we look closely at the things rural Bucks County houses tend to hide. Many rely on wells and on-lot septic systems that may not support an added bedroom or bath without upgrades. Stone foundations may sit on shallow footings, and older additions were sometimes built with less care than the original house. We investigate these conditions during preconstruction and tell you what we find, so the budget reflects the house as it is.
Historic districts and approvals
Bucks County has some of the most active local historic review in the region.
Borough HARBs. Under Pennsylvania’s Historic District Act (Act 167 of 1961), Doylestown Borough, New Hope Borough, and Newtown Borough each have local historic districts reviewed by a Historical Architectural Review Board. The HARB reviews exterior work, generally what is visible from a public way, and advises borough council, which grants or denies the Certificate of Appropriateness. Windows, roofing, siding, porches, additions, and demolition are common topics.
Township review. Several Bucks County townships protect historic resources through their zoning ordinances or historical commissions, which can apply to farmhouses and barns outside any borough.
Floodplain rules. Along the Delaware and its creeks, floodplain ordinances can affect how much work can be done on an existing house without elevating or floodproofing it. Historic structures may qualify for relief, but that has to be confirmed with the municipality.
Requirements vary by municipality and change over time, so homeowners should confirm current rules with their borough or township before design is final. We help prepare HARB and permit applications alongside your architect, with existing-conditions documentation, material samples, and construction details that show reviewers exactly how the work will be done.