Sandy Smith, Philadelphia Magazine’s Real Estate editor recently wrote, “Lancaster has to be the coolest small city in the state, and maybe even the entire Mid-Atlantic region.” Lancaster City was the vision of James Hamilton in 1734 and considered to be the ‘stepping off point’ to the Ohio River Valley and the frontier beyond. Pioneers would secure their Conestoga wagons and Pennsylvania long rifles in Lancaster before heading west. The 286 years of history provides a wealth of architectural styles that are available to discover in a very condensed and tight nucleus around the town center.
Our walking tour begins at the historic Franklin & Marshall College campus and includes a six-block walk to center city along mansion row. See multiple examples of Chateauesque, Tudor Revival, Colonial Revival, English Country, Spanish Revival, Dutch Colonial, Norman Gothic, Queen Anne and Second Empire. Ending in center city, Penn Square supports an additional fourteen architectural styles within a two-block radius of the 1874 Gothic Revival Civil War memorial. The vast inventory of diverse architectural styles in excellent condition impresses even the most fervent architectural critics. Our tour will adjourn with lunch (not included) at the internationally acclaimed 1889 Romanesque Revival Central Market, a commission won by James H. Warner when he was only twenty-four years old!