Benjamin Riegel House

The Benjamin Riegel House in Riegelsville, Pennsylvania, USA, is significant as an excellent example of a vernacular Georgian style house. Riegel, a miller by trade, owned several area mills and was instrumental in the development of both this Riegelsville and Riegelsville in New Jersey. He resided in the house until his death in 1860 as did his widow until 1880. The Benjamin Riegel House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. The property has been privately owned by Dr. and Mrs. Neal Azrolan since 2010.

Built in 1832, the house bears resemblance to the "I" houses so common to Upper Bucks and the Musconetcong Valley in New Jersey. Deeper and containing a more formal interior than the typical "I" house, it also differs in the use of decorative trim and the use of building materials. In choosing brick, Riegel opted for a building material common at the time to urban areas outside of Bucks County but uncommon to Upper Bucks and the Musconetcong area due to the proliferation of native stone and wood. The result was a graceful building befitting the owner's successful miller/merchant status. The Riegel house does resemble several Riegel family stone farmhouses in Lower Saucon Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, in size and form but appears to have been influenced more by the styles popular in such urban areas as Philadelphia and Burlington, New Jersey, where the use of brick proliferated. In keeping with the urban orientation of the house is the diminutive barn. Its size indicates its purpose was for personal, rather than agricultural, use, i.e., the storage of one to two horses or cows and a pleasure carriage which tax records show the original occupant to have owned.

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