Rex House
The Rex House, also known as the Gemberling-Rex House, is an historic, American home that is located in Schaefferstown in Heidelberg Township, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania.
Rex House | |
 Rex House, November 2011 | |
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| Location | North Market Street, Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 40°17′53″N 76°17′36″W |
| Area | 0.5 acres (0.20 ha) |
| Built | 1729 |
| Architectural style | Half-timbered |
| NRHP reference No. | 80003551[1] |
| Added to NRHP | August 11, 1980 |
Built in 1729 by early Pennsylvania German settlers, his structure is a 2+1⁄2-story, half timbered residence with originally scored plaster exterior and, currently, a horizontal wooden siding and a gable roof. It measures thirty-two feet by twelve feet and has gable end brick chimneys. Also on the property are a contributing smoke house, bake oven, stone foundation of a barn and outhouse and cistern.[2]
History
Originally a modest three-room structure, by 1798 it was radically altered to include refinements of the Anglo-American elite after which it was purchased by Samuel Rex, who was Schaefferstown's most prominent resident. The home and its occupants represent the product "of cultural conflict between the English majority and an ethnic German minority," where historians contend there was pressure of Pennsylvania Germans to culturally conform.[3]
The Gemberling-Rex House is open for tours as part of the Historic Schaefferstown museum.
It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.[1]
References
- "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- "National Historic Landmarks & National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania" (Searchable database). CRGIS: Cultural Resources Geographic Information System. Note: This includes H. Frank Mandonado (n.d.). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Rex House" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-02-28.
- Smith, Bradley K. (2008-01-01). "Interpreting the Gemberling-Rex House Bradley K. Smith Harrisburg Area Community College". Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies. 75 (1): 86–90. doi:10.2307/pennhistory.75.1.0086. ISSN 0031-4528.
