Lancaster County House of Employment
Also known as: Old County Hospital; Building No. 1
Why it's listed
Built in 1799-1801 as a county house of employment on East King Street in Lancaster, the two-story stone building was designed by the joiners William Hensel and George Brungard, with masonry work by Charles and Thomas Wilson of Chester County. The county directors who commissioned it had the authority of an act passed by the state legislature in 1797. Its fifteen-bay facade and central pedimented doorway follow Philadelphia-derived Georgian models, and the nomination compares its plan to work by Robert Smith. The building housed the poor and was used for medical care from the start, with a physician appointed in December 1800 and a steward and matron supervising the inmates. The county used it as a house of employment until the county almshouse was completed in 1876, after which it served as a hospital, offices and a nurses' home. The nomination treats the building as a rare survivor of early institutional architecture in Pennsylvania, valued for its early date, its surviving exterior form and its long record of county service.
Significance in brief: The nomination argues the building is an important example of Georgian institutional architecture in Pennsylvania whose basic exterior integrity survives. It also argues the building served as a county house of employment and hospital from its inception, making it one of the oldest hospital-type structures still standing in the United States. Its design is linked to Philadelphia prototypes, particularly the work of Robert Smith.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 80003525, listed April 17, 1980. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-haiku-5-5, prompt v1.1-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | 900 E. King St., Lancaster |
|---|---|
| County | Lancaster County |
| Listed | April 17, 1980 |
| Reference number | 80003525 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1799-1801 |
| Architect / builder | William Hensel (joiner/carpenter); George Brungard (carpenter); Charles and Thomas Wilson (masons) |
| Architectural style | Georgian |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Health/Medicine, Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Currently houses offices for several County agencies. |
| Acreage | 1.3 |
| Coordinates | 40.03795, -76.28525 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
National Register listing is honorary for a privately owned home: it does not by itself restrict what an owner may do with their own money, and it does not require public access. Restrictions come from local landmark or historic-district ordinances, which are separate (how they differ).
Owner-occupied houses are not eligible for the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit, which applies to income-producing buildings, but many states offer credits for homeowners. Listing also opens the door to preservation easements and to buying a plaque. Start with what listing means for homeowners, renovating a listed house and selling one.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 80003525.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q6483159
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.