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Moravian College • Preservation Master Plan
Spatial Organization
The overall spatial organization of the Hurd
Campus reflects its roots in the original Moravian
settlement of Bethlehem (refer to Chapter 2 –
Historic Overview). The spatial character, then and
now, is generally defined by the linear arrangement
of the buildings along Church Street above a central
open space or garden.
The oldest building on the campus, the Single
Brethren’s House, was the terminus of Main Street
as it widened at its intersection with Church to
become the settlement’s town square, der Platz (figure
5-8). The Platz was the major organizing element of
the town into the 1800s and its slightly trapezoidal
shape is still perceptible in the landscape. Eventually,
Main Street was extended south of Church Street,
turning the corner to avoid West Hall. A linear
alignment of buildings developed along this section
of Main, enclosed the open garden space to the west
as newer structures were added in the nineteenth
and twentieth centuries.
The inner core of the campus has changed
significantly from its original form. It has been
used for a variety of purposes over the course of
its settled history, including subsistence gardens,
Main Street
tree-lined walking paths, tennis courts and playing
fields, performance space, and study area. At the
time of the Moravian settlement, the area was
used as community gardens and was laid out in
a formal, geometrical configuration common to
European gardens of the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries (figures 5-9 and 5-10). During construction
of the new residence hall, several root cellars, one
of which dates to the eighteenth century, were
discovered in this area and were likely used to store
produce from these gardens (Gerhardt et al. 2008).
Figure 5-9. Pownal’s 1754 view of the Moravian settlement
showing the Single Brethren’s House at the center and the area
to the south as working yards and gardens (Moravian Church
Archives).
Der Platz
Single
Brethren’s
House
Figure 5-8. Golkowski’s plan of Bethlehem from 1771 showing
the layout of the town around der Platz and the placement of
the Single Brethren’s House at the terminus of the view. The
forced perspective from north to south would have made the
space seem even longer than it was (Moravian Church Archives,
annotated by JMA 2009).
Figure 5-10. Map of the Moravian settlement of Bethlehem by
Golkowski, dated 1758, showing the gardens south and east of
the Single Brethren’s House (Moravian Church Archives).
John Milner Associates • October 2009 • Chapter 5 • Cultural Landscapes • 76