You are here

Eastern Pennsylvania » Beyond Blue Mountain to the Northern Tier » Northumberland County » Northumberland » Joseph Priestley House

Joseph Priestley House

-A A +A
1798. 472 Priestley Ave.
  • (© George E. Thomas)

Soon after arriving in Northumberland, Joseph Priestley built this central-hall two-story house overlooking the Susquehanna River. Constructed with kiln-dried lumber, the white clapboard house with its balustraded roof is more typical of New England than eastern Pennsylvania and indicative of the influence of Connecticut settlements in the region. Priestley's house is reached by a circular drive and incorporates sophisticated features that attest to his education and aspirations: fanlight entranceways, dentiled cornices, a second-story Palladian window, and other features of the graceful Adam style imported from his native country. Symmetrical one-story wings house the summer kitchen and the laboratory where Priestley, who had identified oxygen in 1774, isolated carbon dioxide in 1799. Operated by Pennsylvania State University as a museum since 1926, the Priestley House is designated a National Historic Landmark and a National Historic Chemical Landmark.

Writing Credits

Author: 
George E. Thomas
×

Data

What's Nearby

DuGruchy Cottage
Hummel House
Joseph Priestley Memorial Chapel
Blank Funeral Home (Boyd-Elliott House)
Priestley-Forsyth Memorial Library (Cross Keys Inn)

Citation

George E. Thomas, "Joseph Priestley House", [Northumberland, Pennsylvania], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/PA-02-NB12.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of PA vol 2

Buildings of Pennsylvania: Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania, George E. Thomas, with Patricia Likos Ricci, Richard J. Webster, Lawrence M. Newman, Robert Janosov, and Bruce Thomas. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2012, 399-400.

If SAH Archipedia has been useful to you, please consider supporting it.

SAH Archipedia tells the story of the United States through its buildings, landscapes, and cities. This freely available resource empowers the public with authoritative knowledge that deepens their understanding and appreciation of the built environment. But the Society of Architectural Historians, which created SAH Archipedia with University of Virginia Press, needs your support to maintain the high-caliber research, writing, photography, cartography, editing, design, and programming that make SAH Archipedia a trusted online resource available to all who value the history of place, heritage tourism, and learning.

,