Gambrel Roof House (2nd Meetinghouse) - Fallsington Historic District - Fallsington, PA
N 40° 11.107 W 074° 49.123
18T E 515432 N 4448319
This meetinghouse was built in 1728, at a cost of 1000 pounds, as a replacement for the original Meetinghouse, which had burned. It is the second of four total meeting houses built for the village over the last 300 years.
Waymark Code: WM71J5
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 08/19/2009
Views: 2
This former meetinghouse is an integral part of this historic district. Steeped deeply in Quakerism, from its inception until today, this structure served many of the community's needs for decades until the third meetinghouse was built at the later half of the 18th century.
Fallsington is an authentic 300-year-old quaker settlement. This village pre-dates other Friends historic districts by at least 50 years. Little known, and underrepresented in history books, it is one of the best existing examples of authentic pre-colonial life in America. There is a decent history of this village found in a nice book called The buried past: an archaeological history of Philadelphia By John L. Cotter, Daniel G. Roberts, Michael Parrington. It can be found on Google Books which can be found HERE (page 363-367).
About the Contributing Structure
In its construction, it has a fieldstone exterior, with a later frame addition. It is notable for the unusual roof style, believed to have been added in 1758, “to better accommodate our women Friends at Quarterly Meeting”. There is another, similar gambrel roof house in Haddonfield, NJ.
Initially this structure was a meetinghouse. Later, it was converted to a girl’s boarding school, the Fallsington Library, a private home, a dental parlor, and again a Friends’ school. In 1940 it was divided into apartments where it still serves the same function today. An addition on the meetinghouse belies its original use. The current owner is Historic Fallsington, Inc., acquired 1969.
I found a reference to the restoration of the outside of this house HERE. The article speaks of the repainting of this house and how with only two coats of lime paint base a dingy structure is transformed into a "museum-like" historic landmark. There are some pretty neat before and after pictures.
In 1971, the Village of Fallsington was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. This nationally-registered historic district takes its name from nearby "Falls of the Delaware." Immediately surrounding the historic district is a neighborhood of residences of various ages, circa 1700's to 1990's. This meetinghouse is a contributing structure to the historic district and the following text is excerpted from the original district nomination form submitted to the Department of Interior in 1971.
"Gambrel Roof House. The second Meeting House, built in 1728. Since the building belonged to the Falls Meeting until 1940, there are no old deeds or records except those found in the minutes. It cost 1000 pounds, and was enlarged in 1758 "to better accommodate our women Friends at Quarterly Meetings; may cost 50 pounds." (Since "repairing the roof" is referred to, this may indicate when the Gambrel roof was added).
From a recently discovered sampler, the building was already a thriving girls boarding school in 1802. In the later nineteenth century, it housed the Fallsington Library, and Dr. Adams' dental parlor. From 1927 to 1940 it was a Friends elementary school. In that year, it was converted into five apartments, as it is today, Now owned by Historic Fallsington, Inc., but has had no architectural research.
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