—Lancaster Farming, Saturday. March 12,1977 102 Stark in appearance, the Hans Herr House is an In this picture Earl Groff, administrator of the example of Medieval Germanic architecture and is landmark, points out the exterior characteristics the only structure of its type in Lancaster County. that make it medieval. Hans Herr House continues to develop as landmark By JOANNE SPAHR WILLOW STREET. Pa. - Hie 1719 Hans Herr House has not long been an historic landmark in Lancaster County as other dwellings there have-even though it is the oldest existing building in the county as well as the oldest meeting house. In stead, it was only opened to the public in 1974 after four or five years of restoration. Those responsible for the work were mainly interested in tiie property because of its role as a Mennonite meeting house for approximately 130 years. Hans Herr was a bishop in the early Men nonite church, and therefore, a key figure to that religious sect in this area. The land on which the Herr House is > standing formerly belonged' to the farm of D. Mark Huber, which was earlier owned by his father, David H. Huber, and by his father, David Huber. The Hubers are known descendents of Hans Herr. Knowing of the interest in the old meeting house, in 1969 Huber agreed to sell the acre of land containing it, which the Lancaster Men nonite Conference Historical Society eagerly bought. Then began the restoration - and quite a restoration it was. The home had stood vacant for nearly 100 years when it was used, as a storage barn for the operating farm on which is was erected. Tobacco was hung in the upstairs, potatoes in the arch cellar, and it was just generally used as a utility building. Says Earl Groff, ad ministrator of the Hans Herr House, “It was a blessing in disguise that they used the house for this purpose, because they kept the roof restored, which kept the entire building in tact.” But, of course, the work of returning it to its original state was monumental and it took from 1909 when it was purchased to 1974 to get the bouse ready for visitation. “We tried to make it as authentic as possible,” says Groff, adn tells of reroofing the building in the authentic manner. “A lot of hand work and research had to be done,” explains Groff, and, we were also limited in funds." They did hire a restoration ar chitect to help them with the work. The Hans Herr House has a marked style of central Europe, and according to the architect,—a “most mar velous example of Medieval Germanic architecture.” “If you would go to central Europe, you would find any number of homes over there just like this,” explains Groff. “In fact, our visitors from those countries sometimes say how much fun it is to visit the house because it brings back memories of their childhood.” While most people think of knights and castles as “medieval”, this is not This Victorian home on the visitors' center for the historical property of the Hans Herr House in landmark. Lancaster will be converted into a necessarily so. Medieval structures were very' sub stantial and remained as functional dwellings for a long time. In this case, the Hans Herr House did, because it is the only structure of its type standing in Lancaster County. Medieval homes are characterized by three basic structures. First of all, they have extremely steep roofs. The owners could get maximum use of space from the roof shape, and the shingles lasted longer because the snow slid off faster and the shingles dried off quicker. Another medieval characteristic is that the windows have cut stones framing them on the ex terior. “Everybody else used wood as an exterior window frame, except those building medieval type houses,” says Groff. The third characteristic of a medieval home is a massive stone fireplace for cooking and central heating in the home. Because of the way in wfaicb the home is built, every room has one wall in touch with the fireplace, therefore acting as space heaters for each. The Hans Herr house meets these requirements stringently, and although it is efficient in structure, this type of dwelling did not “catch on” in popularity in the region, and for this reason, the Herr House is the only one of its type to be found. “I don’t know why it didn’t catch on,” says Groff, who is baffled by the change in architecture through time, “but you just don’t see these European style homes anywhere else in the county. They just didn’t stick to the purity of European styling for some reason.” “This bouse is really one of a kind,” be continues. ’“The next younger house was probably built 25-30 years later. To underline the change in architecture (Confinued on Pace 103| • .X "•■.. -V LOOK FOR ADAMS CO. O.C. RICE, INC. Biglemlle, PA 717-677-8135 YINGUNG'S IMPLEMENT RDI Gettysburg, PA 717-359-4848 BERKS CO. N.H. FUCKER A SONS INC. Maxatawny Ph. 215-613-7252 STANLEY A. KLOPP INC. 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