Early English and German settlers in Lancaster built practical houses using techniques dating from the Middle Ages, such as half-timbering. The oldest houses were built of log or wood frame, while examples built after 1800 were often constructed of brick.

Characteristics include:

• thick walls
• asymmetrical façades
• one or one-and-one-half stories
• central chimney
• steeply pitched roofs

Click here to see photos of Colonial and Germanic buildings in Lancaster.