Moravian College

Moravian College, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Moravian College report to the Getty (PDF) 30.3MB

Founded in 1742 by German and Moravian immigrants, today Moravian is an independent liberal arts college associated with the Moravian Church in America. The College encompasses two parallel campuses—the Female Seminary and the Men's College and Seminary—that were originally separated along gender lines but merged in the mid-twentieth century. Eleven of the college's buildings within the Bethlehem Historic District are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, with Brethren House (1748) considered to be one of the best examples of Colonial Germanic architecture in the country. Grant funds are supporting an evaluation of the historic fabric of the campus and its evolution, past campus development patterns, and the use and enhancement of historic resources, all of which will result in a historic preservation plan for the college that can be incorporated into the College's new wider facilities master plan.

Moravian College received a Getty grant in 2007 for $130,000 to support campus heritage planning.

Report Summary

Purpose: Grant funds are supporting an evaluation of the historic fabric of the campus and its evolution, past campus development patterns, and the use and enhancement of historic resources, all of which will result in a historic preservation plan for the college that can be incorporated into the College's new wider facilities master plan.

Historic Designation: Eleven of the college's buildings within the 1972 Central Bethlehem Historic District are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, with Brethren House (1748) considered to be one of the best examples of Colonial Germanic architecture in the United States.

Founded in 1742 by German and Moravian immigrants, today Moravian is an independent liberal arts college associated with the Moravian Church in America. The College encompasses two post-secondary campuses—the Female Seminary and the Men's College and Seminary—that were originally separated along gender lines (1742/3-1953) but merged 1954-56 as Moravian College. (A secondary-level Moravian Seminary for Girls remains separate.) The grounds include evidence of Native American occupation, frontier colonial settlement, and 20th-century industry—athletic structures built for U.S. Steel employees.

Site list

• Native American trail, Lenni Lenape territory (1737)
• City plan following Herrnhut “community” model (1741-58)
• Communal garden established (1747)
• Single Brethren’s House aka Colonial Hall (1748, stone, Vernacular Germanic; 1762 and 1768 expansions; 1958 and 1967 renovations; 1970’s restoration, designed by Spillman Farmer Architects)
• Widows’ House (1768, Vernacular Germanic stone; 1795 and 1890 expansions—acquired 1990’s)
• John Frederick Fruehauff House aka Wolle Hall aka East Hall (1819, Federal Style brick—acquired 1914, 1971 restoration)
• Hamilton House aka Resident Professor’s House aka farmhouse (1820, Greek Revival; 1891-92, renovation)
• Day House aka Laundry (1840; 2003 renovation)
• Hearst Hall aka Old Chapel Building (1848, 1977-80 restoration)
• Main Hall (academics/dorm) (1854, brick, eclectic European-American; 1958 renovation/restoration)
• West Hall (1859, brick, Greek Revival and Italianate detailing)
• Hyphen addition (1859)
• Clewell Hall (1867, French Second Empire—acquired 1930’s, 1971 rehabilitation)
• Peter Hall aka New Chapel (1867; 1916 alteration; 1977-78 restoration, designed by Spillman Farmer Architects; 1998 glass restoration)
• South Hall (1873-75, front-gabled brick; 1978 restoration; 2008 glass restoration)
• Payne Art Gallery aka Old Gymnasium (1890, Classical Revival brick; 1982 renovation with connection to South Hall, exterior designed by William Watson, interior designed by Spillman Farmer Shoemaker Pell; 2001 gallery modernization; 2009 exterior renovation and climate control installation)
• Comenius Hall (multipurpose) (1891, Richardsonian Romanesque, landscaping Romantic/Picturesque; designed by A.W. Leh; 1913 fire, 1914 repair; 1940’s renovation; 1955 conversion)
• Zinzendorf Hall aka Refectory (support functions) (1891, Dutch Colonial; 1940’s renovation)
• Borhek Chapel (1893, Gothic Revival; 1967 restoration)
• Harvey Memorial Library (1907)
• Pleasure Grounds from Hurd Campus to Monocacy Creek (Romantic Style, fence removed 1910)
• Monocacy Hall aka Gymnasium (1913, Colonial Revival, designed by Miles Andrews)
• Steel Field with grandstand (1916, block with brick veneer--purchased 1962, built up 1960’s)
• Memorial Hall aka Memorial Science (administration/science) (1923, Colonial Revival, designed by Howard J. Wiegner; 1973 renovation)
• Colonial Hall (1929, 18th-century Moravian; 1955 conversion)
• Moravian Church Archives (1930, 18th-century Moravian)
• GREEN POND ESTATE ACQUIRED FOR SEMINARY (1942)
• Archibald Johnston Hall aka College Hall (field house) (1952, concrete block/stone with buttresses, Prairie Style; designed by George Trautwein; expanded 1991 with Breidegam Field House)
• men’s dormitory
• science building
• Rau-Hessler Dormitory Complex (1960, stone Modernist, designed by Trautwein & Howard)
• Haupert Union Building aka College Union Building (1962, Prairie Style, designed by Trautwein & Howard)
• Willard C. Bernhardt Hall (1964, Modernist, designed by Trautwein & Howard)
• Imogene Beck Wilhelm Hall (1965, Modernist, designed by Trautwein & Howard)
• Reeves Library (1967, German Colonial, designed by Trautwein & Howard)
• West Hall (1970, 1976 restoration)
• Collier Hall of Science (1971)
• Jo Smith Hall (1972, Prairie Style)
• Paul Bahnson Center aka Moravian Theological Seminary (1976, Modernist)
• New Archives (1977)
• Beck House (1978, Modernist)
• De Schweinitz House (1978)
• Foy [performance] Hall, connecting South Hall with Payne Art Gallery (1982, Modernist)
• 5 Hillside dormitory complexes (1988)
• Spangenberg House (1989)
• Antes House (1989)
• Burnside House (1989)
• Lenape House (1989)
• Nitschmann House (1990)
• Breidegam Field House (1991)
• Priscilla Payne Hurd Academic Complex (2003, red brick, evocative of 18th-century Moravian style)

Landscape character features

• Hurd Campus (school core, dating to 1741; atop Bluff): Monocacy Creek, Floodplain, Slope, Bluff, Central Green, alignment with original town square, Pleasure Gardens
• Steel Field (South Field and 6-part North Field)
• Comenius Hall
• Old Quad
• Monocacy Quad
• Colonial Hall
• Sports Quad
• Hillside
• Betty Prince Field
• Campus Ring

Planning Process

• Historic research, document collection
• Determine stylistic evolution of U.S. schools and campuses
• Identify existing resources; define character-defining treatments for community and campus, recommend treatments
  • Historic Bethlehem [community] Master Plan (1963, landscaping designed by Thomas J. Kane)
  • Historic American Building Survey (HABS) documentation (1968)
  • Bethlehem Historic District (1972)
• Cursory investigation of campus areas less than 50 years old
• Field investigation, assessing character, condition, significance, integrity for campus areas more than 50 years old
• Use of International Society of Arboriculture standards for
• Use Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties to assess past restoration work
• Use Secretary of the Interior’s Standards to create guidelines for future work
• Use of Secretary of the Interior’s Standards to identify 10 landscape character areas and contributing features, whether natural, designed, individual plantings/vegetation, orientation, circulation path, vista, structures or furnishings
• Presentation to / review by Advisory Board

Outcomes: Products

• Tabulation of Significant Historic Landscapes, noting character-defining features
• Greater awareness of Historic American Building Survey (HABS) documentation, 1968
• Recommended plant listing
• Historic American Building Survey (HABS) documentation for Single Brethren’s House
• Catalog of preservation issues and treatment guidelines

Outcomes: Policies and Plans

• Consult the preservation recommendations ASAP in any new project
• Hire an historic preservation specialist
• Increase awareness of campus heritage, in order to generate support for sensitivity and preservation
• Undertake formal historic designation for the North Main Street Campus (Hamilton House, Comenius Hall, Zinzendorf Hall, Monocacy Hall, Memorial Hall)
• Support any city nomination of the area surrounding the North Main Street Campus—an area central to the city’s industrial development
• Designate Woodland Preservation Zones
• Create a campus “visual identity” encompassing furnishings, signage, lighting
• Prepare a management plan for archaeological resources

Unique features:

• Community (with particular focus on Moravian heritage) is integral to the school ethos
• Historic American Building Survey (HABS) documentation, photographs and drawings, for Single Brethren’s House
• Recognition that disturbing the ground will disturb its archaeological/underground historical resources
• Annotated list of all NPS Technical Preservation Bulletins
• Illustrated examples of suggested treatments/materials
• Recommendation to consider restoring ivy growth on stone walls
• Photographs altered to illustrate impact of recommendations
• Warning against false historicism
• List of National Park Service preservation briefs

Advisors

• John Milner Associates, Inc.
• Katherine L. Farnham, Project Architectural Historian/Project Manager
• Laura Knott, Principal Landscape Architect
• Christina Osborn, Landscape Architectural Designer
• Lori Aument, Architectural Conservator
• Wade Catts, Principal Archeologist
• Thomas Scofield, Principal Preservation Planner
• Peter Benton, Project Director

University representatives:

• Dr. Hilde Binford, Associate Professor Music
• Mr. Blair Flintorn, Facilities Coordinator, Priscilla Payne Hurd Campus
• Mr. Douglas J. Plotts, Director of Facilities Management, Planning and Construction
• Ms. Sue Schamberger, Director of Foundation Relations
• Dr. Carol Traupman-Carr, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
• Assistance from Ms. Sue Schamberger, Director of Foundation Relations