The Tannery - Historic Moravian Historic District - Bethlehem, PA
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NorStar
N 40° 37.192 W 075° 22.996
18T E 467581 N 4496631
The Moravian community that settled here in the mid 1700s built this building and operated a tannery as one of several industries here.
Waymark Code: WMN4PB
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 12/26/2014
Views: 5
In Bethlehem, in an area known as the Industrial Quarter, is the tannery building, which is a contributing building to the newly dedicated Historic Moravian Historic District.
The tannery is located in a gorge at the same level as Monocacy Creek, which runs west of the building. It is part of a cluster of buildings known as 'The Industrial Quarter.' There is evidence of an old raceway on the east side. There are paved pathways from Main Street, down the bluff face to the building.
The following text came from the nomination form for the district:
"Tannery (Contributing building)
Located to the north of the Oil Mill ruins, within the Colonial Industrial Quarter along Monocacy Creek, the 36 foot by 66 foot Tannery was constructed in the German Colonial style in 1761. It is a five bay, three story, limestone building with a one story attic, clay tile gable roof, shed dormers, shallow segmental brick arched
windows. It also had herringbone-patterned doors. The Moravian Church sold the tannery and its operations in 1830.39 Tanning continued until 1873 when the structure was converted into a multi-family dwelling. The building was restored over the period 1968-71 by John Milner Associates as an historic property interpreting the eighteenth century tanning operations. An archeological report, pieces of the original vats, and tools are in the collection of Historic Bethlehem, Inc."
The building is owned by Historic Bethlehem.
Other Sources:
Lehigh Valley Live (Bethlehem Historic Moravian District):
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visit link)
Historic Bethlehem (Historic Moravian Historic District a Nat. Hist. Landm. Dist):
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visit link)