Moravian Preservation Master Plan.indb - Society for College and ...

Moravian College • Preservation Master Plan
The interior of the Widows’ House has reportedly
been changed considerably to accommodate modern
living standards. Due to continued residential
occupancy, the interior was not examined in this
study.
Condition
Summary
The Widows’ House is a two-and-one-half-story
oblong stone building with a side-gabled slate
roof. It faces north toward Church Street and its
basement level is exposed at the back. It was built
in three stages, all of which are clearly visible. The
1768 main block is nine bays wide and three bays
deep. A second section was added to the east end
of the first in 1795. This has the same side profile,
with less refined stonework, and is two bays wide
and thee bays deep. The steep-pitched roof over
both sections has slightly flared eaves and conceals
a double-level attic with dormers on both floors. At
the rear of the house near the east end is a one-story
gabled addition at ground level, with two doors.
A hyphen and rear annex were added on the south
in 1889. Both are two-and-one-half-stories tall plus
an exposed basement level. The hyphen is a narrow
southward extension with three-story full-width
porches on both east and west. It connects at the
south to the much larger annex. The shared gabled
slate roof runs perpendicular to the main block, and
the walls are constructed of random local stone with
red brick detailing. The annex is nine bays long and
five bays wide, and its primary façade faces west.
Queen Anne details include a corbelled red-brick
cornice, an elaborate gabled center dormer with an
arched tripartite window, slate-sided shed dormers
with paired windows, and curved brackets on the
porches. The center entrance bay has a split-level
stairwell with the entrance at grade. The south end
of the annex has a full-width three-story porch
identical in style to those on the hyphen.
and a projecting two-story water closet addition
as a predecessor of the present hyphen. A historic
photomontage indicates that this was the “entrance
to the old kitchen.”
A stone hyphen and large annex were added at the
rear (south) of the main building in 1889. Both the
annex and the hyphen are stone with some Queen
Anne detailing.
Figure 8-146. Widows’ House, 1889 annex, view to southeast
(JMA 2008).
Figure 8-147. Widows’ House, 1889 annex, west façade view to
southwest (JMA 2008).
Additions
The main house was extended 20’ eastward in 1795
with a full-height addition. Different stonework
and mortar joints, along with a vertical demarcation
line in the front façade, indicate the juncture.
A small gabled addition with two single doors was
added at grade on the south side of the building
in more recent times. The 1885 Sanborn map
shows a one-story addition at this same location,
Figure 8-148. Widows’ House, 1889 annex west-facing hyphen,
view to east (JMA 2008).
John Milner Associates • October 2009 • Chapter 8 • Historic Buildings • 219