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

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Moravian College • Preservation Master Plan The Hurd Campus of Moravian College lies within the boundaries of the Bethlehem Historic District (figure 5-3). Within this district, a Certificate of Appropriateness is required prior to the issuance of a building permit. Plans for any changes to exteriors that are visible from a public right-of-way are subject to review by the Historical Architectural Review Board (HARB). 5.4 Character Areas Preservation planners use landscape character areas as a tool to organize landscape features and land uses according to their distinct aesthetic and physical characteristics. Once identified as distinct character areas, landscapes with similar features, opportunities, and constraints are more easily understood in terms of their evolution and future management options. For purposes of this study, ten individual landscape character areas have been identified within the overall Moravian College landscape (figure 5-4): • Hurd Campus • Steel Field • Comenius Hall • Old Quad • Monocacy Quad • Colonial Hall • Sports Quad • Hillside • Betty Prince Field • Campus Ring Each of the character area descriptions below includes an evaluation and assessment of natural systems and features, buildings, spatial organization, land use, circulation, vegetation, views and vistas, landscape structures, and site furnishings and objects particular to that area. Where possible, known archeological features are also identified. This is followed by a summary of historic resources and an evaluation of historic integrity. Several features are referred to as “possibly historic” or “may be historic”. This indicates that there was not enough information available to support the historicity of a feature or the exact date of its installation, but enough evidence existed to suggest the feature may be over 50 years old. For these features, more research should be conducted to verify their age. For each character area, existing landscape features and conditions were photographed and documented through field notes. Site photographs have been incorporated into the chapter to illustrate features and condition issues described in the text. Based on this inventory, base mapping was updated to illustrate existing conditions. Unless stated otherwise, features were found to be in good condition. John Milner Associates • October 2009 • Chapter 5 • Cultural Landscapes • 72
Moravian College • Preservation Master Plan Hurd Campus Character Area General Character This character area encompasses the more than 250-year-old original core of Moravian College, now called the Priscilla Payne Hurd Campus (Hurd Campus), and includes the oldest group of buildings and spaces associated with the college, as well as buildings and spaces associated with the original Moravian settlers of Bethlehem (figure 5-5). The area now comprising the Hurd Campus was purchased by the Moravian Church as part of a 500-acre tract in 1741 and the buildings and associated spaces were originally part of the highly structured Moravian social system, as described in Chapter 2 – Historic Overview. Several residential buildings, as well as communal gardens, were built on the property. In 1814, the property was sold to the Moravian Seminary for Young Ladies, which had been founded in 1742 by Countess Benigna von Zinzendorf. The Seminary had previously been quartered in the Bell House, among other locations. Today, the Hurd Campus includes the area that lies between Church Street to the north, Monocacy Creek to the south, Main Street to the west, and Sakon Place to the east It is primarily characterized by its landform – a curved bluff sloping southwest to the level area of the Monocacy Creek floodplain. The most historically significant buildings on the campus are grouped along Church Street at the top of the bluff and along the original alignment of Main Street. These buildings frame the north and west edges of an open space with steep slopes covered with brushy vegetation forming a visual boundary to the east, and riparian vegetation along Monocacy Creek providing both a visual and physical edge to the south. The space is interrupted by several private parcels and small parking lots at the top of the bluff and a new residential building for the college at its center (figure 5-6). Circulation within the area consists primarily of service and access drives, which double as pedestrian paths. The center of the campus is used primarily as a pass-through zone from campus buildings to parking lots. Character Area Assessment The Hurd Campus character area is an essential component of the college’s historic campus, as well as a key factor in the development of the original Moravian settlement and subsequent development of Bethlehem. The Single Brethren’s House, one of the most emblematic features of Moravian College and of Bethlehem itself, is the terminus of Bethlehem’s wide Main Street, which was once the central square of this community, der Platz. The trapezoidal spatial configuration of der Platz is still discernable in the landscape. To the south of the Single Brethren’s House and the other historic buildings extending along Church Street is a sloping, mostly grassy landscape that has hosted a wide range of uses over time, from community gardens managed by the original Moravian settlers, to the Pleasure Grounds, a complex conglomeration of gardens, fields, and walking paths managed by the school for both passive and active recreation. While the area does not retain all of its landscape characteristics from the historic period, enough survives to give the informed visitor a sense of the various roles the campus has played since its development. Historic landscape features remaining include the overall sloping topography of the site and the upper edge of the bluff on which the historic buildings were constructed, as well as level areas on which various gardens had been established. One of the walking paths of the Pleasure Grounds survives in the form of a service drive that leads to the rear of the Single Brethren’s House. In addition, several trees have survived from the historic period. Construction of a large parking lot southwest of Foy Concert Hall in the 1960s and recent construction of the new residence hall along the bluff have negatively affected the integrity of the historic landscape due to removal of a number of historic features, such as the cast-iron fountain, sundial, tennis courts, playing fields, topographic details, archeological sites, large shade trees, and historic views of the campus. Natural Systems and Features The Hurd Campus is situated atop the bluff above the confluence of Monocacy Creek with the Lehigh Canal, just to the north of the Lehigh River (see figure 5-2). The primary natural features of the character area are its landform and topography and Monocacy Creek, which forms its southern boundary. The landform rises out of the level floodplain along Monocacy Creek, a sharply sloping hillside oriented John Milner Associates • October 2009 • Chapter 5 • Cultural Landscapes • 73
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