{"nrhp_refnum":"01000506","name":"Zeta Psi Fraternity House","other_names":["Tau Chapter","Zeta Psi Fraternity"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"49 S. College Dr.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Easton","county":"Northampton County","state":"PA","lat":40.69753571800004,"lon":-75.20746300399998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2001-05-21","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 2½-story stone fraternity house on the southeastern corner of the Lafayette College campus in Easton, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, built 1909-1910 for the Tau Chapter of Zeta Psi.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is a well-preserved example of early 20th-century Period Revival architecture, adapting English Restoration country-house forms with Colonial Revival and Arts and Crafts elements. It is also linked to the role of fraternities in college and Easton social life, and it is described as the most distinguished and best preserved of the large fraternity houses built on the Lafayette campus before World War I.","narrative":"Built in 1909-1910 on the southeastern edge of the Lafayette College campus in Easton, Pennsylvania, this two-and-a-half-story granite fraternity house overlooks downtown Easton and the confluence of the Delaware and Lehigh Rivers. The architects William Marsh Michler and James Barnes Baker, both Lafayette alumni and Zeta Psi members, designed it in a Period Revival manner that draws on late 17th- and early 18th-century English Restoration country houses, with a hip roof, modillion cornice, wall dormers and projecting pavilions. Colonial Revival and Arts and Crafts features appear in its arcaded sun porch, dark-stained oak woodwork and Mercer tile fireplace surrounds. Michler appears to have led the design, and the house is one of nine large fraternity houses erected on the campus before World War I. The Tau Chapter hosted receptions and dances that drew Easton's leading families, and the building has remained in continuous fraternity use through 1950, the end of the period of significance.","period_of_significance":"1909-1950","architect_builder":"William Marsh Michler (architect); James Barnes Baker (architect)","architectural_style":"Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals; English Restoration","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":null,"vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:36.254922-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/01000506.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/01000506/0a233f2120-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/01000506/0a233f2120-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Shuvaev","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Zeta_Psi_Fraternity_House,_Lafayette_College_01.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Shuvaev</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Zeta_Psi_Fraternity_House,_Lafayette_College_01.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71995389","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeta_Psi_Fraternity_House_at_Lafayette_College","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8069724"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/northampton-county/zeta-psi-fraternity-house-01000506/"}