Rhoads-Lorah House and Barn

The story

Written by AI from this property's National Register nomination and the record above; every sentence is checked against its sources before it appears here. Corrections: privacy@treealive.com

The Rhoads-Lorah House and Barn comprises three contributing buildings at 1832 Old Swede Rd. in Amity Township, Berks County, built around 1830 in the Georgian style and listed in the National Register in 2007.

Why it's listed

It was listed under Criterion C, with local-level significance in architecture and under criteria consideration A, with a period of significance of about 1830 matching its construction. The nomination credits architects Gottlieb Drexel and Conrad Henry with its design.

Physical character

The house has limestone, wood and brick walls on stone foundations, an asphalt and wood roof, a shingled pent roof, a brick-arched doorway, a built-in corner cupboard and German-style box locks. The barn is a gambrel-roofed Standard Pennsylvania Barn with Peilereck corners and slatted vents. The house gained a concrete milkhouse and dormered attic bedrooms in the 1940s and a garage in 1950; its porch was enclosed in the 1950s, used as an office in the 1970s and rebuilt as a kitchen in 2004.

Historical context

Henry A. Body bought the farm's 76 acres in 1927 and ran a chicken and brooder business in the 1940s; his family lived on it until his death in 1981, and the estate sold the buildings and 11.4 acres to Reese in 1999.