Digital collections

Browse the archive

Search published catalog records or narrow the collection by type and collection.

222 records

DeTurk , deconstructed masonry wall above kitchen doorway (2009)

Photos 1001.01.208

Core of random rubble masonry wall above kitchen doorway during restoration

DeTurk · 12/07/2009

View of wall above kitchen door after removal of exterior layer [“wythe”] of stones, which were distended and out of plumb. Stones removed from above the doorway were laid out on the ground in "mirror" position and were re-laid and "mudded in" [set and bonded in bed and joint mortar] in their original positions. Repointing of this wall segment was completed in April, 2010, using a traditional lime-mortar mix consisting of lime, water, and sand “aggregate” from the nearby Little Manatawny Creek. Details shown include the replacement door-frame lintel; the "stacked" pair of bearing plates; end grain of three original floor joists; original bonding [also "bed" or "setting"] mortar and the "keyed" inter-positioning of stones of various sizes, shapes, and setting angles characteristic of random rubble masonry; filleted corner ["quarter round"] bead along jamb and lintel edges ["arrises"]; and a portion of the replaced outlookers emerging from wall [reddish-brown wood surfaces at right and left edges of photo]. Also apparent is the 2-inch deflection of the paired "wall plates," the upper member bearing the joists, now deflected from south to north [left to right] across the photo partially behind the carpenter's square, which is level. See DTR09PH92--1001.01.184, a series of 18 photos showing the removal of these stones above the doorway as well as a reconstructed view prior to repointing. Laurence Ward, 2009, updated March, 2021

2: HABS/Univ. of PA 1961 text, map cover sheet

Archives 1001.01.257

Cover sheet and scaled drawings-DeTurk House

DeTurk

The inscription in image #2 is a vernacular Germanic version of the names of Johan and Debora DeTurk, as it is carved into the lintel spanning the attic doorway into the granary space, with the presumed construction date of 1767. See other DeTurk Collection records in this archive for descriptions, details, and images of the history, structure and restoration of this multi-purpose structure (“Grossmutter” dwelling, cellar kitchen and root-cellar, and attic storage space [“granary”]), and record DTR09PH139 citing the 2013 Preservation Pennsylvania award conferred on this iconic “ancillary” farmstead building. Larry Ward

DeTurk House, drawing of carving in lintel of south gable door (1945)

Archives 1001.01.243

Date inscription in lintel

DeTurk · 1945

Digital image of a drawing (with caption) that appears on page 32 of "Home Craft Course: Pennsylvania German Architecture" (volume 19 ) published by Mrs. Naaman Keyser in Kutztown, PA. and written by Richard S. Montgomery, A.I.A. Drawing depicts the carved inscription in the lintel of the south gable doorway of the DeTurk House. Image [owners’ names] appears on the bottom third of the page. Incised owners’ names composes one category of the Germanic/Swiss tradition of “house inscriptions” [Hausinschriften”], which includes dates, building slogans, house blessings [“Haus Segens”], and many religious and cultural expressions dating back centuries on the European continent. L. Ward, August 2020

$Deflection and fracture above summer beam in cellar$

Photos 1001.01.091

Deflection and fracture above summer beam in cellar

DeTurk · 05/09/2009

Digital photographic print showing bed fracture and deflection in stone walling in cellar, later re-masoned when core-rotted summer beam [lower timber] was stabilized with a 'channel beam' insert. Image depicts conditions exisiting immediately prior to and necessitating the 2009 restoration of building. This is a low resolution image (72 ppi). L Ward, 2009

DeTurk, detail of 2nd-floor doorway (c.1990)

Photos 1001.01.196

Detail of attic doorway, gabled pent hood, hyphenated pent roof

DeTurk · c.1990

Black & white photographic print of DeTurk House showing a detail view of second-floor doorway, gabled pent hood, and pent roofs. Note on reverse of photo says "copyright [symbol] Steve Myers Studios 1990." Details include: gabled pent hood, hyphenated pent roof, replicated two-board attic door with moldings applied to simulate a paneled door.

DeTurk , repaired masonry crack in north gable-end wall (2009)

Photos 1001.01.192

Detail of cracked north gable-end wall

DeTurk · 12/17/2009

The jagged vertical crack descends from just under the joint between the east wall plate [upper left corner of photo] and the weathered horizontal oak plate tie extending 4 feet westward from the wall plate at the eaves level {1}. The darker pointing in the re-built north wall segment is left [east] of the crack in the photo, and the earlier [lighter colored] pointing to the right of the crack defines the un-restored portion of the wall{2}. The alternating long stones at the corner of the north and east walls are sometimes called "quoins" [anglicized to "coin" in the 19th century], which compressively bind ["tie"] the vertical mortar joints close to the corner. See an interior view of this repaired crack and the contrasting pointing in the wall ranges flanking the crack in DTR09PH95--1001.01.187 FOOTNOTES: {1} See discussion to DTR09PH93--1001.01.185. {2} See drawing DTHDWG1--1001.01.045 cited in footnote {3} of DTR09PH69--1001.01.153 showing the location of the crack in the "basement" plan view, with a note stating that the displaced wall "moved + or - 6 inches." According to drawing DTHDWG1--1001.01.045, this "tectonic" event in the random rubble gable wall forced the eastern corner segment of the north wall toward the west, partially over-riding the wall-range west of the crack. This through-fracture was repaired and the corner piers of the intersecting east and north masonry walls were relaid in the 1970s. Laurence Ward, 2009

Detail of north door jamb and water table at DeTurk kitchen doorway (2009)

Photos 1001.01.188

Detail of door jamb

DeTurk · 08/10/2009

Exterior view of north door jamb foot in one inch of water above stone sill after 2 inches of rain in 36 hours. This water level would submerge the restored brick-paved kitchen floor under seven inches of water and place the foundation wall and its exposed mortar joints in contact with more than one foot of standing water, which recedes from that level very slowly by natural percolation through the soils, wall pores, and limestone bedrock. The restored original drain tunnel, with an enclosed and backflow-protected gravity drainage course, will discharge these water levels in a fraction of the elapsed time required in the absence of these facilities, and will significantly reduce both the duration and extent of these incursions. This system will substantially extend the life expectancy of the pointing and bonding mortars, materially prolonging the durability of the masonry foundation. Laurence Ward, 2009

Detail view, DeTurk S door jamb at kitchen entry during restoration (2009)

Photos 1001.01.142

Detail of door jamb foot, stone sill, and retaining wall foundation blocks

DeTurk · 08/13/2009

Detail view of jamb [top-center], door sill [upper center], and retaining wall blocks (left third of photo), [detail at lower left corner of DTR09PH51--1001.01.135]. Blocks along left third of photo are foundation stones of the low retaining wall and masonry abutment south of the kitchen doorway before restoration [see DTR09PH61--1001.01.145 for restored view of this abutment, and DTR09PH125--1001.01.221 for a view of the relaid low retaining wall abutting the higher retaining wall to its south.] Laurence Ward, 2009

DeTurk House, detail of first floor window frame (1973)

Photos 1001.01.050

Detail of first floor window frame-south elevation

DeTurk · 04/14/1973

Digital image of original photograph taken by Steve Kindig. Image shows first floor window frame detail in south gable wall. Details include: molded jambs and window frame lintel, pegged corner joint, shutter pintel hole.

Window opening, upper grade, west wall

Photos 1001.01.084

Detail of opening in west eaves wall

DeTurk · 05/09/2009

Digital photographic print showing hole along western grade and elevation, allowing inflow to cellar kitchen of surface drainage from long macadam driveway. Image depicts conditions existing immediately prior to and necessitating the 2009 restoration of building. This is a low resolution image.

DeTurk, detail of restored kitchen door jambs and masonry abutments (2009)

Photos 1001.01.179

Detail of restored kitchen door jambs and sill

DeTurk · 08/13/2009

Exterior view of restored [original] kitchen door sill and lower portions of replacement oak jambs. The [original] stone sill was shifted 2-3 inches to the right [north] to accommodate the adjusted jamb alignments [see DTR09PH4--1001.01.124 for discussion of the effects of this relocation of the sill on the relationship between the doorway jambs, lintel, sill, abutments and hood outlookers, and DTR09FN3--1001.01.176 for a field notes drawing of the probable historic and modern locations of those elements]. See discussion to DTR09PH60--1001.01.144 regarding the water table inside and outside the stone sill and necessary mitigation plans (see DTR09PH66--1001.01.150) designed to protect the structure from its effects. Masonry abutment piers were re-pointed with locally formulated mortar in 2010, applying a hydraulic-grade mix to joints below finished grade or below the high water table range. Laurence Ward, 2010

DeTurk House, detail view of outlooker remnants, south elevation (1973)

Photos 1001.01.039

Detail view of south elevation

DeTurk · 04/14/1973

Digital image of original photograph taken by Steve Kindig. Image shows a detail view of house's south elevation without pent roofs. Details include: outlooker remnants, coursed stone work; coursed and semi-dressed gable masonry; roughly coursed walling from plate-ties down, with pointing extruded to enhance impression of regular and rectilinear coursing Delineated by the appearance of horizontal bed-joints, the rectangular openings in the stonework below the granary floor are the passages through the wall for the extended floor joists supporting the [missing] pent hoods, which have been replaced. Larry Ward, updated Oct. 2022

DeTurk photo on cover "This Month in Reading"

Archives 1001.01.011

DeTurk cover photo on booklet "This Month in Reading," April 1969

DeTurk · 1969 April

Booklet, "This Month in Reading," April 1969, 32 pages. Page 17 lists a tour of the Oley Valley set for May 3, 1969, sponsored by the Woman's Club of Oley. The De Turk House is featured in this annual tour of historic sites. Only the cover and page 17 are presented as images here. A single image of cover and page 17 combined, suitable for printing on 8.5x11 landscape is available under MULTIMEDIA LINKS. Also see additional image for second page.

DTH Bank Steps 1

Photos 1001.01.250

DeTurk House Bank Steps Construction

DeTurk

Because of the absence of interior stairs from the living space to the cellar kitchen, exterior access to the lower-grade kitchen doorway required descending a steep bank to the lower-grade. This was provided by installation of a set of stone treads on a tamped sloping sub-base and 2B crushed stone base, with boulder-size bed-stones set for stability and leveling. Photo captions: #1275: tamping soil sub-base for bed-stones and treads; 1299: preparing to set top steps and upper landing; 1300: Base stones, retainers, and treads on 2B bed; 1308: setting stones on 2B crushed stone drainage base; 1322 & 1323: step-stones and 2B bed; 1341: lateral elevation view of step-stones; 1345: preparing bed for top treads and upper landing; 1359: leveling half millstone to serve as upper landing; 1360: step-stones from road-grade; 1367: typical Oley Valley sunset from DeTurk House after end of workday; 1379: backfilling after setting steps; 1380: steps from lower grade; 1385 & 1480: completed step-run on bank east of DeTurk House; 1525: posts set for hand-rail; 1529: completed installation; 6334: completed stair, with hand railing, from upper grade; 6336: completed stair, with hand railing, from lower grade. Field Notes Drawing: plan view and elevation of DeTurk House bank steps, as-built. Larry Ward, 2010

Photos 1001.01.255

DeTurk House cellar summer beam

DeTurk

Summer beam in DeTurk cellar kitchen, channeled and restored to structural use between cellar cross-wall partition from root cellar and fireplace lintel, with re-purposed white oak timber inserted into core of original beam after termite-tunneled wood had been chiseled out. See archive record DTR09PH136 for detailed narrative and numerous photos of the 2009 restoration of this relatively short ‘summer{n} beam’ ”. {n} “summer” is probably derived from the French “sommier” (beast of burden) or sumer or somer, to bear a burden, in this instance the floor and “live” loads supported by the joists bearing on the summer. A “summer-tree” is defined by Richard Neve, self-described English ‘Philomath’, in his 1726 Builder’s Dictionary as “A Beam full of mortises for the ends of Joists to lie in.” In this DeTurk summer beam, floor joists under the living space do bear on the beam but do not “lie in” mortises. Larry Ward

DeTurk House, Field notes drawing of reconstructed vent grille (2011)

Archives 1001.01.248

DeTurk House west root cellar vent grille

DeTurk · 08/02/2011

Series of three images (one digital copy of a field notes drawing by L. Ward and two digital photographs) showing the vent grille used by blacksmith James Kieffer of Honey Brook, Chester County, PA, to fabricate the grille to the precise dimensions of the vent opening in the west wall of the root cellar, and the re-fabricated grille. The grille was installed in the fall of 2011 by restoration mason Joe Forrest, who also laid the stone sill supporting the replacement grille. The milled steel rails and bars were cut to the specifications in the drawing and secured with the "fish-tail" anchor set into the mortar joint located in the center of the new sill, which rises above the disintegrated sill by approximately five inches. The vertical bars are aligned on the diagonal in the traditional manner to allow more light into the root cellar without reducing the volume of air vented through the grille. Also attached is a photo of the grille after installation [Image #2]. Image three is of the previously existing early [possibly original] grille in the vent opening in the east wall of the root cellar. This grille was used as a template for the replacement grille, modified slightly to fit into the existing opening. Laurence Ward, 2011; updated, March, 2021

DeTurk House, view of damage to pent roof & outlookers (c.1974-1975)

Photos 1001.01.072

Digital image of DeTurk House from photographic print

DeTurk · c.1974-1975

Digital image of photographic print showing damage to pent roof, clay tiles, and outlookers caused by collision with garbage truck c.1974-1975. See MULTIMEDIA LINKS or additional image for reverse side of photograph.

DeTurk House, view of damage to pent roof & outlookers (c.1974-1975)

Photos 1001.01.073

Digital image of DeTurk House from photographic print

DeTurk · c.1974-1975

Digital image of photographic print showing damage to pent roof, clay tiles, and “outlookers” [cantilevered pent supports] caused by collision with garbage truck c.1974-1975. Details shown in this image include: pent roof lath, rafters, damaged tiles, pedimented hood, gable pent hood, recessed-panel door, roughly coursed masonry{n}, random-rubble eaves wall masonry, rake board, granary door. {n} to be distinguished from “ashlar”, a more formal English wall pattern laid up with blocks of uniform dimensions and more carefully dressed to provide a common vertical wall-plane [see Pottsgrove mansion and George Douglass House for nearby examples]. The DeTurk masonry employed pointing of varying thicknesses, and rough leveling to simulate authentic regular coursing. The stone units here are also minimally dressed to a common plane. See MULTIMEDIA LINKS or additional image for reverse side of photograph Larry Ward, updated September, 2022

DeTurk House, view of damage to pent roof (c.1974-1975)

Photos 1001.01.074

Digital image of DeTurk House from photographic print

DeTurk · c.1974-1975

Digital image of photographic print showing damage to pent roof caused by collision with garbage truck c.1974-1975. Details shown in this image include: coursed masonry, pent roof lath, rafter, damaged tiles. See MULTIMEDIA LINKS or additional image for reverse side of photograph.

Summer beam with added reinforcement

Photos 1001.01.107

Digital photographic image of DeTurk House door

DeTurk · 05/04/2009

B&W Digital photographic image of DeTurk House showing cellar fireplace timber lintel, shored to stabilize it from further deflection, which would have removed structural support for the masonry mass above. Image shows existing conditions immediately prior to and that necessitated the 2009 restoration of building.

Detail view of root cellar jambs

Photos 1001.01.114

Digital photographic image of DeTurk House doorway

DeTurk · 05/04/2009

B&W Digital photographic image showing interior view of root cellar arched doorway and failing masonry jamb. Image shows existing conditions immediately prior to and that necessitating the 2009 restoration of building.

Disintegrated Deturk kitchen wall foundation

Photos 1001.01.155

Disintegrated cellar wall foundation

DeTurk · 07/29/2009

Detail of DTR09PH70--1001.01.154, showing displaced foundation stones under kitchen window. The primary structural problem in this small building, dramatically evident in the sandy-mud mortar-residue visible in the lower-right quadrant of this photo, was the debilitating long term effects from saturation of mortar and the consequent dissolution of much of its lime ingredient. This process resulted in loss of the primary bonding agent in the "pre-Portland" era {1}, producing an unstable, overly compressed, and inelastic mixture, unable to maintain the compressive bond in the masonry wall or to prevent lateral and diagonal displacement in parts of the structure. Lower foundation blocks in the excavated area are darkened by frequent saturation of kitchen-floor fill by runoff infiltration, high water table, and occasional creek flooding. All three sources will be addressed in the drainage and diversion plans discussed in DTR09PH74--1001.01.163 and DTR09PH66—1001.01.150. FOOTNOTES {1} Undersized or otherwise deficient or misaligned bond timbers and wall plates, the use of truncated eaves plate ties in place of true tie-beams to restrain roof thrust, the use of joists laid flat in place of embedded wall-beams of deeper section, and other framing "shortcuts" might have been additional contributing factors in the manifold structural failures, especially the long "lightning-bolt" crack discussed in note {3} to DTR09PH69--1001.01.153 [see also DTR09PH93--1001.01.185, DTR09PH94--1001.01.186 and DTR09PH95--1001.01.187 and related photo descriptions and discussion] and other dislocations and fractures documented by numerous photos in this archive. Laurence Ward, 2009

Pre-restoration view of interior DeTurk kitchen wall under window

Photos 1001.01.156

Disintegrated mortar in kitchen foundation

DeTurk · 07/30/2009

Detail view of degraded kitchen foundation wall during restoration. View from inside kitchen under window, rotated 90 degrees northward from DTR09PH71--1001.01.155, showing extent of mortar disintegration within the wall. Laurence Ward, 2009

Letter re: DeTurk door (1969)

Archives 1001.01.001

Donohue-Hottenstein letter re: DeTurk Door

DeTurk · 08/01/1969

Letter in reply to HPTBC's Mrs. E. Robert Hottenstein from Donald D. Donohue, antique dealer of Falls Church VA, dated 08/01/1969. No copy of the letter from Mrs. Hottenstein has been found. "Letter No. 2" is printed in pencil in the upper right corner. This apparently refers to a series (numbered 1 to 6) of inquiries to various sources about the De Turk property made by Mrs. Hottenstein. The subject is the location of a door and its hardware from the first floor, south elevation of the DeTurk house, and the possibility of purchase by HPTBC. Mr. Donohue's reply is negative.