Benjamin Riegel House
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Benjamin Riegel House
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Benjamin Riegel House. November 2012.
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| Location | 29 Delaware Rd., Riegelsville, Pennsylvania |
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| Coordinates | 40°35′41.2″N 75°11′33.1″W / 40.594778°N 75.192528°WCoordinates: 40°35′41.2″N 75°11′33.1″W / 40.594778°N 75.192528°W |
| Area | 1.2 acres (0.49 ha) |
| Built | 1832 |
| Architectural style | Georgian, Other, Vernacular Georgian |
| NRHP Reference # | 86003569 |
| Added to NRHP | January 6, 1987 |
The Benjamin Riegel House is significant as an excellent example of a vernacular Georgian style house. Riegel, a miller by trade, owned several area mills and was instrumental in the development of both Riegelsville, New Jersey and Riegelsville, Pennsylvania. Riegel resided in the house until his death in 1860 as did his widow until 1880. The Benjamin Riegel House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. The property has been privately owned by Dr. and Mrs. Neal Azrolan since 2010.
Built in 1832, the house bears resemblance to the "I" houses so common to Upper Bucks and the Musconetcong Valley in New Jersey. Deeper and containing a more formal interior than the typical "I" house, it also differs in the use of decorative trim and the use of building materials. In choosing brick, Riegel opted for a building material common at the time to urban areas outside of Bucks County but uncommon to Upper Bucks and the Musconetcong area due to the proliferation of native stone and wood. The result was a graceful building befitting the owner's successful miller/merchant status. The Riegel house does resemble several Riegel family stone farmhouses in Lower Saucon Township, Northampton County, PA in size and form but appears to have been influenced more by the styles popular in such urban areas as Philadelphia, PA and Burlington, NJ, where the use of brick proliferated. In keeping with the urban orientation of the house is the diminutive barn. Its size indicates its purpose was for personal, rather than agricultural, use, i.e., the storage of one to two horses or cows and a pleasure carriage which tax records show the original occupant to have owned.
The Benjamin Riegel House is a two and one half story, five bay, brick structure located at 29 Delaware Road in the Borough of Riegelsville, PA. The house and its outbuildings stand on a strip of land bordered to the east the Delaware River and to the west by the Delaware Division Canal. It is one of the earliest and most substantial dwellings to be erected in the settlement which became Riegelsville.
The residence exhibits several vernacular Georgian building characteristics and decorative features, including balanced front and side facades, a centered front door with an entablature supported by pilasters, horizontally and vertically aligned windows, a gabled roof, and interior end chimneys. The original section, erected in 1832, has a rectangular plan of 40' by 24'. A two story ell was added to the rear of the house prior to 1860. There is a shed roofed porch, replaced in 1985, on the rear at the junction of the original section and the ell addition. To the rear of the house are situated a barn circa 1832 and shed which appears to date from the time of the ell addition.
The exterior facade of the house is brick. The front facade is Flemish bond while the side and rear facades are common bond. The exterior bears a few restrained decorative details including a box cornice with dentil molding, the latter on the front facade only, windows set off with a simple architrave, and a belt or drip course on the west facade. The surrounds of the front door of the original section facing the main road and the side door of the ell addition facing the canal are of equal restraint, featuring entablatures with dentils, fluted pilasters, and paneled reveals and headers. The rear doors are surrounded by simple architrave trim. The front and rear doors of the original section are centered. The latter is diminutive, paneled, and glazed with one large pane. All 32 windows in the house have 1/1 sash. The bays of the front and side facades of the original section are equally spaced with upper level bays set directly above those below. This treatment is duplicated on the west wall of the ell addition with two bays on each story. The fenestration of the main section's rear facade was originally balanced, with three bays. It is partially obscured by the addition and displays a window on the first story with a second story window set directly above. Above the rear door is a diminutive window set at the staircase and to the left of the rear door is a circa 1920 small single pane window. The fenestration of the north and east walls of the addition is irregular. The north wall contains a single window which is set at the second story while the east wall contains one door on the first story with no bay above and one window on the first story with a window, not set directly above, on the second story. The doors on the west and east facades of the addition are both paneled and glazed with single panes. The original section features four fireplaces, two on each floor at gable ends, and has a full basement with a native stone foundation. Joists in the attic and basement are hand-cut. Roof rafters at the peak are held together with pegs. Contained in the full length center hall of this section is an open well, two flight staircase which features a simple newel post, mahogany handrail, plain balusters, and side panelling with applied molding. The hall is flanked by two parlors on the first floor and two bedrooms on the second. A powder room was erected on the first floor off the center hall circa 1920. The ell addition was erected over a crawl space, with notched and nailed roof rafters supporting a gable roof. The addition is composed of a bathroom and dressing room on the second floor and a kitchen on the first floor. The interior walls of both sections are of smoothly finished plaster and decorated with quirk beaded chair rails and baseboards. Ceilings on both the first and second floors are ten feet high. The trim of the fireplace in the east bedroom features colonettes, a convex frieze, bed-molding, and mantle shelf. Decorative painting has been uncovered on the frieze and trim of the fireplace in the west bedroom as well as on the window and door trim and baseboards of the room. The floors are of random width boards of long leaf yellow pine, some up to 18" in width.
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