Gristmiller's House

Built in Bethlehem's Moravian Industrial Complex along Monocacy Creek, the Grist Miller's House was approved by the Aufseher Collegium, the Moravian board that managed the town's financial and material affairs, in 1782. The lower portion is limestone, the original one-story miller's house, while a one-and-one-half story brick addition in the Federalist style was apparently completed in the 1830's. Before the house was built, millers and their families lived inside the grist mill itself. Master miller Hermann Loesch requested a separate dwelling in late 1781 so that the mill's living space could be used for grain storage. The house sits slightly northeast of the mill, and its placement reflects the planning of the whole industrial district. Apart from the addition of a wooden porch on the southern facade, the building has kept its character since the 1830's. It is significant for combining colonial and Federalist building traditions in a single structure and for its connection to the Moravian industrial district, which supplied power for many colonial industries.