Rex House

Rex House, also known as the Gemberling-Rex House, is a historic home located at Schaefferstown in Heidelberg Township, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. It was built in 1729 by early Pennsylvania German settlers, and is a 2+1⁄2-story, half timbered residence with originally scored plaster exterior, now horizontal wooden siding and a gable roof. It is measures 32 feet by 12 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]

Rex House
Rex House, November 2011
Rex House is located in Pennsylvania
Rex House
Rex House is located in the United States
Rex House
LocationNorth Market Street,
Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania
Coordinates40°17′53″N 76°17′36″W
Area0.5 acres (0.20 ha)
Built1729
Architectural styleHalf-timbered
NRHP reference No.80003551[1]
Added to NRHPAugust 11, 1980

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
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. "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.
  3. 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.


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