Stoever, John Casper, Log House
Why it's listed
Built in the 1730s on a 295-acre parcel in New Holland, the one-and-a-half-story log house was laid out in a traditional continental plan of four rooms around a large central hearth. Its builders used corner posts into which the horizontal logs were mortised and tenoned, a method rarely recorded in American log construction. The gable ends were half-timbered, and a surviving section of half-timbering is considered rare. The house is also associated with John Casper Stoever, Jr., who held early Lutheran services in New Holland from about 1730 and later served as senior German Lutheran minister in Pennsylvania until his death in 1779. The house was converted to a center hall plan in the 1880s, with a rear addition and the removal of the central hearth. The nomination places its importance in the combination of an uncommon building technique and a documented link to early Lutheran church history in Pennsylvania.
Significance in brief: The house is regarded as a rare example of eighteenth century corner-post log construction, in which horizontal logs are mortised into corner posts, a technique rarely found in the region. It also includes a rare surviving example of half-timbering. The nomination links the house to John Casper Stoever, Jr. (1707-1779), one of the first Lutheran ministers to serve in America, who held services there.
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 86003561, listed January 6, 1987. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-haiku-5-5, prompt v1.1-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | 200 W. Main St., New Holland |
|---|---|
| County | Lancaster County |
| Listed | January 6, 1987 |
| Reference number | 86003561 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | c. 1740 |
| Criteria |
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| Areas of significance | Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | The house was to be moved about thirty-five feet south and rotated after a road-widening agreement in 1989, with a new masonry foundation and removal of the 1880s rear addition possible. |
| Acreage | 0.3 |
| Coordinates | 40.10120, -76.09204 (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 86003561.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q6225472
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.