Riebsam House

Of Muncy's many Federal-style dwellings, this house built for merchant and hotelier Phillip Riebsam possesses the most integrity. It illustrates the mixed results when craftsmen in rural areas emulated a sophisticated style that was in its last stages in urban centers. The plain two-story rear wing was built c. 1810 and the larger two-and-one-half-story Flemish bond front section about ten years later. The latter's Federal-style features include the broad facade, large six-over-nine and six-over-six sash windows with thin muntins, and a delicately carved geometric cornice. At the same time its provincialism is evident in the dormer windows’ simple wedgelike lights and their colonnettes with elongated caps, the entrance's fanlight, and the north gable's pinched Palladian window. Because the bricks are soft, the walls have long been painted.