The houses of Lehigh County
Lehigh County sits in the Lehigh Valley, a broad band of farmland between South Mountain and Blue Mountain, and its houses reflect the Pennsylvania German farmers who settled it in the 1700s and the industrial cities and towns that grew up afterward.
Farmhouses and barns. Across Lower Macungie, Upper Milford, Lower Milford, and the townships north of Allentown, early farmhouses are typically fieldstone or, later, brick, with the Germanic plans and Georgian façades found throughout southeastern Pennsylvania. The Troxell-Steckel House in Whitehall Township, a stone farmhouse from the 1750s, is a good surviving example. Bank barns, springhouses, and summer kitchens are common, and some barns carry painted decoration like those in neighboring Berks County.
Moravian roots. Emmaus began as a Moravian community in the mid-1700s, and Bethlehem, founded by Moravians in 1741, extends into the eastern edge of the county. That heritage shows in some early stone buildings and street patterns.
Allentown. Founded in 1762 as Northampton Town, Allentown grew into a manufacturing city in the 1800s. Its historic core is a grid of brick rowhouses, twins, and townhouses in Italianate, Second Empire, Queen Anne, and related styles, many with decorative cornices, porches, and stained glass. The Old Allentown and Old Fairgrounds neighborhoods preserve much of that fabric. Farther west, the West End developed in the early twentieth century with larger single houses in Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival, and Craftsman styles.
Stone, slate, and cement. The valley floor is underlain by limestone, and the upper county around Slatington was a center of slate quarrying, so slate roofs are common on older houses. Lehigh County also has a direct link to modern construction: David Saylor produced some of the first Portland cement made in America at Coplay in the 1870s, and the Lehigh Valley became a center of the cement industry. The irony for owners of older homes is that Portland cement, so important to modern building, is usually the wrong material for repointing an eighteenth- or nineteenth-century wall.
Projects we take on in Lehigh County
In Allentown and the boroughs, whole-home remodeling of rowhouses and larger townhouses means new systems threaded through narrow floor plans, restored plaster and millwork, and layouts that work for modern life. Kitchens and baths in older homes are often rebuilt in rear wings, where they have the least impact on original rooms.
Home additions on Lehigh Valley farmhouses usually take the form of subordinate wings or connectors that keep the original house legible.
In the growing southern and western townships, we build custom homes with the proportions and materials of the valley’s older farmhouses, after reviewing zoning, setbacks, and any subdivision covenants that shape the lot.
Where an older house needs repair, our historic home restoration work often focuses on masonry: correcting hard cement repointing on brick and stone, repairing slate roofs and flashing, and restoring original windows, cornices, and porches.
The county’s bank barns and outbuildings are candidates for barn and outbuilding conversions.
Allentown’s rowhouses reward close attention to their details. Many have pressed-metal or wood cornices, cast-iron or wood porches, and original doors with transoms, all of which have usually been painted, patched, or partly replaced over the decades. We document these elements before work begins and repair them where we can, because they are what give a block its character and what a review board will look at first. Where a piece is missing, neighboring houses on the same block are often the best guide to what belongs.
Historic districts and approvals
Historic review in Lehigh County is concentrated in Allentown, with township rules and neighboring Bethlehem adding their own layers.
Allentown. The City of Allentown has local historic districts, including Old Allentown and Old Fairgrounds, reviewed by a Historical Architectural Review Board under Pennsylvania’s Historic District Act (Act 167 of 1961). Exterior work visible from a public street is typically reviewed before a permit is issued.
Bethlehem. Bethlehem has a HARB and other historic review bodies, but its best-known districts are mostly on the Northampton County side of the city. Owners in the Lehigh County portion should still confirm their status with the city.
Townships and boroughs. Some Lehigh County townships include historic resource provisions in their zoning, and boroughs may have their own review steps for older buildings.
Requirements vary by municipality and change over time, so homeowners should confirm current rules with their city, borough, or township before design begins. We help prepare applications alongside your architect, including existing-conditions documentation, material samples, and construction details.