Built in 1897, the Robert Barnwell Allison House is a two-story clapboard covered building. The house is an excellent example of the Queen Anne style and is one of the few intact nineteenth century residences in Lancaster. It was built for Robert Barnwell Allison, who was an 1882 graduate of the University of Michigan Law School. Allison practiced law in Lancaster with his father, Colonel Robert Erasmus Allison, until the elder Allison’s death in 1906; he continued his practice and lived in this house until his own death in 1936. The architectural firm of Langley & Knight constructed the home. The Robert Barnwell Allison House is a rectangular, two-story, frame residence with a one-story ell to the rear. It has a tall, hipped composition roof with intersecting gables over two-story canted bays, wood clapboard siding, and a brick pier foundation with brick infill. Gable ends are clad with diamond novelty shingles and have paired one-over-one double hung sash windows. There are two interior brick chimneys with corbeled caps. A 1900 guide to Lancaster County described this house as among the town’s “finest residences, built on the latest and most improved style of modern architecture.” Listed in the National Register January 4, 1990.

View the complete text of the nomination form for this National Register property. In addition, the Historic Resources of Lancaster County, ca. 1745-ca. 1940 includes historical background information for this and other related National Register properties.

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