York Architecture Illustrated

05/29/2026

Several months late to the party, I finally picked up my copy of A Room With A Boo - an incredible children's book born from a collaboration between local creatives Rissa Miller () and Josh Johnson (). Rissa's engaging storytelling and Josh's distinctive artistic style come together to create something truly special, with a local focus that makes both the story and York itself feel a little more magical.

What struck me most is the book's engagement with one of York's most recognizable landmarks: the Yorktowne Hotel (). Through the interplay of story and illustration, the Yorktowne becomes more than just a setting - it becomes a character in its own right. Anyone who has spent time in the historic hotel will recognize details woven throughout the artwork, from the brass Cutler mail chutes that provide a convenient mode of transportation for one of the book's ghostly protagonists (ghost perks!) to the lore surrounding the hotel's famous taxidermied goat. Many of the Yorktowne's distinctive architectural features appear with only the lightest stylistic embellishment, allowing the building's character to help tell the story of a young girl and her spectral friend.

Truthfully, I'm finding myself genuinely curious about the backstories of Jane, Violet, and Eugene, and I absolutely love Ian the dog, who looks just enough like our Cosmo to charm me to bits.

This architectural history nerd is equally impressed, captivated, and proud of the creative talent we have here in York - people capable of creating such a sense of wonder from the places that surround us every day.

Just incredible work, you two.

I can't recommend this book enough. Pick up a copy through the IngramSpark website or major booksellers like Barnes and Noble, learn more through Josh's website and Instagram, visit his studio on East King Street, and join Rissa on one of her ghost tours through town. Perfect for spooky season - or any season.

05/22/2026

Lee’s Diner, located on West Market Street past West York toward Gettysburg, is a chrome and stainless steel time capsule born into the postwar golden age of American roadside travel - a period in which towns and commercial landscapes began reshaping themselves around the automobile and the highways that connected America.

Opened in 1951 by Elmer and Grace Paxton for their son Lee returning home from military service, the prefabricated Mountain View diner arrived in York County along the Lincoln Highway corridor, one of America’s earliest great cross-country roads. Its polished stainless steel shell, glowing neon signage and compact interior reflected a new kind of roadside architecture designed for visibility at highway speed.

For generations of York Countians, Lee’s became more than a restaurant. It was a waypoint: a late-night stop after football games, a breakfast counter before work, a gathering place for cruise nights and coffee poured endlessly into worn mugs across weathered Formica counters. Places like Lee’s helped define the shared visual identity of the American roadside during the height of the automobile age.

The diner’s signage still captures the layered history of the road itself. Traditional painted lettering recalls the older roadside businesses that lined the highway before the interstate era, while the neon evokes the visual culture of midcentury America, when diners, motels and roadside attractions competed for attention in glowing color against the night sky.

Tom Davidson, current president of the Lincoln Highway Association PA Chapter, recently completed a multi-year effort to restore and display Lee’s Diner’s original neon sign. Today, it resides in the York County History Center Agricultural & Industrial Museum beside the restored Modernaire Motel sign.

This piece, along with my series “The Crossing,” will be on display at the Road To Independence Art Exhibition at the York College Center for Community Engagement (across from the Yorktowne Hotel) from June 5 through June 26, alongside nine other artists highlighting the Lincoln Highway across Pennsylvania.

05/08/2026

Late last year, I had the privilege of being commissioned to draw this lovely Federal-style home in Wrightsville, a small town along the western edge of the Susquehanna River in York County. From time to time, I’m asked to illustrate someone’s home - an opportunity to focus not only on architectural and historical details, but also on the sentimental qualities that make a place deeply personal and comforting.

Closely related to the English Adam style of the United Kingdom, the Federal style became incredibly common throughout our region due to the strong cultural influence of English colonists during the 18th century, as well as the continued popularity of English taste and fashion in the years following the American Revolution. Alongside its close contemporary, the Georgian style, Federal architecture emerged as one of the defining architectural languages of colonial and early America, aided in large part by the growing circulation of printed architectural pattern books in the late 1700s.

This Wrightsville home displays many classic characteristics of the Federal style: a symmetrical three-bay facade, side-gabled roof, ornate entry surround with a rectangular transom light above the door, six-over-six double-hung sash windows, and an elaborate roofline accented with distinctive angular modillions. Homes of this style often possess a sense of lightness, delicacy, and disciplined symmetry - qualities that continue to give them an enduring elegance more than two centuries later.

Swipe left for details.

04/24/2026

Late last year, plans were shared to demolish and redevelop the Union Lutheran Church site - a collection of historically and architecturally significant buildings from the turn of the century in York’s downtown historic district.

In response, a Facebook group was created to raise awareness, share information, and encourage public attendance at the preliminary Historic Architectural Review Board (HARB) meeting in December.

From there, the church was directed to return with an approach that preserves all or part of the existing historic buildings. But preservation is not a problem that can be solved through a single municipal recommendation. In cases like this, the community can play an active role.
In February, a group of us formed the Committee to Save Union Lutheran Church to help explore options that had not yet been fully developed. This work is being done on a volunteer basis, independently, and out of a shared interest in the building and its future - not on behalf of the church, but as a resource to it.

Since then, we’ve been meeting regularly to organize information and work through what preservation could realistically look like. This has included identifying funding sources, better understanding the building’s condition and needs, and studying comparable projects, alongside ongoing outreach to partners and stakeholders. All Committee meeting agendas, minutes, and presentations are available through the Facebook group or by request. What began as a reaction has become a more structured and coordinated effort.

The end goal is a preservation report outlining an extensive list of options - with design direction, order-of-magnitude costs, funding strategies, and potential partners - so the church can make an informed decision about their future. The report will be released publicly in the early fall and serve as a guide for other churches facing shrinking membership, aging facilities, and limited resources.

If you’re interested in being involved, feel free to reach out - I’d be happy to include you in ongoing communications.

More to come.

04/20/2026

I’m humbled to have played a small part in the now-successful effort to save and restore the original Modernaire Motel sign. You can see it on display at the York County History Center Agricultural and Industrial Museum!

After YEARS of work we have finally completed the installation of BOTH the Modernaire Motel and the Lee's Diner neon signs at the Agricultural and Industrial Museum in York, PA. This never could have happened without the support of the community and the many individuals that donated so that these Li...

04/17/2026

Walking tours are back! Join me for a tour through West Market Street or Royal Square and take a closer look at the buildings, streets, and details that shape the city.

We’ll slow things down a bit and look at what’s actually there - how these places were built, how they’ve changed, and what they can tell us.

Book your walking tour at yorkarchillustrated.com/book-online.

03/13/2026

I’m very excited to join the Board of Directors of the York Arts Association and to help care for the beautiful Victorian church that YAA will soon be calling its new home - a wonderful opportunity to support both the arts and historic preservation in York.

Meet Blake Gifford, one of the newest members of the York Art Association’s (YAA) Board of Directors.Blake is an architect and design project manager with the Pennsylvania Department of General Services, where he oversees complex public building and historic preservation projects from inception to...

03/06/2026

The rowhouse is one of the defining building types of historic American cities. These narrow homes line the street in continuous rows, sharing side walls and a common roofline. Derived from the European “terraced house,” the form is valued for its efficiency: repeating designs allow builders to construct entire blocks quickly and affordably while creating dense, walkable neighborhoods.

The concept has deep roots in Europe. Rows of attached houses appeared in the Netherlands and Belgium in the 16th century, and developments in Paris showed how repeating facades could shape cohesive urban spaces. When the idea carried to North America, it became a defining feature of cities such as Philadelphia and Baltimore, where growing populations required practical housing.

In Philadelphia, the rowhouse evolved into what architectural historian George Thomas called “the quintessential object of Industrial Philadelphia.” By the late nineteenth century, compact two- and three-story “workingman’s houses” dominated the city. Narrow footprints, shared masonry walls, and standardized construction allowed thousands of homes to be built quickly for factory workers.

Cities like York soon adopted the same model. As industry expanded during the Industrial Revolution, the city’s population nearly quadrupled between 1880 and 1930, rising from about 14,000 residents to more than 55,000. Former outskirts were rapidly subdivided with efficient blocks of attached housing across neighborhoods such as Newton Square, Salem Square, and Penn Park, and along streets like King, Princess, Queen, and Duke.

These rowhouses on the 500-block of South Duke Street, built in the 1880s, reflect this period of expansion. Constructed as a unified row, the homes share two-bay brick facades and similar layouts. While the facades are simple, the window and door trim reflects Victorian-era tastes, echoing details seen on larger Italianate and Colonial Revival houses. Over time, porches and window changes introduced subtle differences between each home, creating variation within the steady rhythm of the row.

02/20/2026

I’m honored to be included in Darley Newman's new book, Revolutionary Road Trip - now available for pre-order!

The book highlights York’s role in America’s founding story and the historic places you can still experience today. Darley’s visit to York - including our walk through downtown exploring the city’s architectural history and its ties to the Continental Congress - will also appear in the upcoming season of Travels with Darley on PBS, “Communities That Shaped America.”

Join us on March 10 at the Appell Center for a special screening and panel discussion with those of us featured in the episode, presented with Explore York. It’s going to be a great night celebrating York’s extraordinary history and the places that tell its story.

Perfect timing for America’s 250th - and some inspiring summer reading.

Pre-order the book: Darley.link/book

02/06/2026

Join me at the York Art Association () once again for Drawing With an Architect’s Eye - a one-day workshop about slowing down, paying attention, and learning to see everyday places through lines, shapes, and structure. 

We’ll explore how to notice patterns, proportions, and the quiet geometry that ties everything together, and practice breaking down complex scenes into simple lines and relationships that make sense on paper.

We’ll meet at the York Art Association on Saturday, March 14, from 9:00 AM to 3:30 PM. All levels welcome! Register at yorkartassociation.org or by calling (717) 755-0028.