# List of the oldest buildings in Pennsylvania

This article lists the oldest extant buildings in the state of Pennsylvania in the United States, including the oldest houses in the state and certain other extant structures. Some dates are approximate, based upon dendrochronology, architectural studies, and historical records. Sites on the list are generally from the First Period of American architecture or earlier.
All listed sites either date from prior to 1776, or are the oldest building in their county or large city, or are the oldest of their type (for example: churches, schools, firehouses, or government buildings).
| Name | Location | Year | Type | Notes |
| Lower Swedish Cabin | Upper Darby, Drexel Hill | c. 1640–50 | Cabin | Possibly oldest log cabin or wooden house in Pennsylvania. Built by Swedish Settlers. |
| Boelson Cottage | Philadelphia, Fairmount Park | c. 1678–84 | House | Oldest structure in Fairmount Park; possibly the oldest extant house in Philadelphia |
| Wall House | Elkins Park | 1682 | House | Oldest house in Pennsylvania which has had continuous family residency; possibly the oldest stone house in Pennsylvania |
| Caleb Pusey House | Upland | 1683 | House | Oldest English-built house in Pennsylvania; only extant building known to have been visited by William Penn |
| Hop Angel Brauhaus | Philadelphia, Fox Chase | 1683 | Restaurant | German-American fare; built in 1683 and a restaurant since the mid-20th century; formerly, the Old Brauhaus, the Blue Ox Brauhaus, and the Blue Ox Bistro |
| Pont Reading | Ardmore | 1683 | House | |
| Sellers Hall | Upper Darby | 1684 | House | Originally home to the Sellers family, including John Sellers, a scientist and founding member of the American Philosophical Society. |
| Growden Mansion | Bensalem Township | 1685 | House | |
| William Smith House | Wrightstown | 1686 | House | |
| Mouns Jones House | Douglassville | 1686 | House | Swedish cabin built by Mans Mouce Jonasson in 1686 in Douglassville in Berks County, Pennsylvania. It's a 2+1⁄2-story, three bay stone dwelling. It is part of the National Register of Historic Places. |
| Sign of the Bird in Hand | Newtown | 1686 | Tavern | Originally a residence, then a tavern with other uses; oldest extant frame house in Pennsylvania; site of the 1778 Newtown Skirmish during which Loyalists killed five and captured 16 to acquire cloth being manufactured for use by Washington's troops at Valley Forge; now a private residence |
| Phineas Pemberton House | Bristol Township | 1687 | House | |
| Wynnestay | Philadelphia, Wynnefield | 1689 | House | One of the oldest houses in Philadelphia |
| Farmar Mill | Fort Washington | 1690 | Mill | Historic mill building; original terminus for Skippack Pike |
| Thomas Massey House | Broomall | 1696, later additions | House | One of the oldest English Quaker houses in the state |
| Morton Homestead | Prospect Park | c. 1698, later additions | House | Farm founded in 1654 |
| Edward Morgan Log House | Towamencin | 1770 | House | Home to the maternal grandfather of Daniel Boone |
| Gloria Dei (Old Swedes' Church) | Philadelphia, Southwark | 1700 | Religious | Oldest surviving church in Philadelphia |
| Wolley Stille | Wallingford | 1700 | House | |
| Langhorne Hotel | Langhorne | c. 1700 | Tavern | Built by William Huddleston; originally known as the Tavern at Attleboro, until the village was renamed for Jeremiah Langhorne in 1876 |
| Brinton 1704 House | West Chester | 1704 | House | One of the oldest houses in Pennsylvania |
| Rittenhouse Homestead | Philadelphia, Wissahickon Valley Park | 1707 | House | Home of William Rittenhouse, the first paper maker in British North America; built by William Rittenhouse and his son Nicholas in 1707; birthplace of David Rittenhouse |
| Old Trinity Church | Philadelphia, Oxford Circle | 1711 | Religious | Church of England services first held on this site in 1698 in a log meeting house that had belonged to the Oxford Society of Friends. |
| Merion Friends Meeting House | Merion Station | c. 1715 | Religious | One of the oldest Quaker meeting houses in America |
| Newtown Square Friends Meeting House | Newtown Township, Delaware County | 1711 | Religious | Early Welsh Quaker settlers in one of William Penn's two planned "new towns" built this meeting house in 1711. |
| Thomas Story House | Upper Roxborough, Philadelphia | 1717/84 | House | The home is described by its current owner as “Dutch Medieval,” owing to the Germanic styling found throughout. The dwelling's walls are built of random Wissahickon schist with ceiling beams of hand-hewn oak. The Dutch-doors on the Ridge Avenue side are also a common feature of Colonial German architecture, a feature that both let in fresh air and sunlight while keeping out stray barnyard animals. |
| Hans Herr House | Willow Street | 1719 | House | Oldest house in Lancaster County; oldest surviving structure used as a Mennonite meetinghouse in America |
| Abraham Rittenhouse House | Historic RittenhouseTown | c. 1720 | House | The Abraham Rittenhouse House (c. 1720) with a c. 1860 addition on the left. |
| Elfreth's Alley | Philadelphia, Old City | 1720–1830 | Houses | Claimed to be the nation's oldest residential street; two rows of Federal and Georgian brick houses built between 1720 and 1830, with a total of 32 extant houses |
| Wyck House | Philadelphia, Germantown | c. 1700–20, later additions | House | |
| Stenton | Philadelphia, Germantown | 1723 | House | Home of James Logan, secretary of William Penn |
| Old Chester Courthouse | Chester | 1724 | Government | The oldest public building in continuous use in the United States; served as a courthouse from 1724 until 1851, and the town hall until the 1960s; now used for miscellaneous city, county and civic functions |
| Christian Beidler's Grist Mill | Berks County | 1729–1738 | Mill | Built during the reign of George II of Great Britain, Christian Beidler's grist mill is one of the oldest commercial buildings in the United States, dating from before the start of the Industrial Revolution. |
| Michael Billmeyer House | Philadelphia, Germantown | 1730 | House | |
| The Bake House at RittenhouseTown | Philadelphia, Germantown | c. 1730 | Mill | |
| Quaker Mill House | Goldsboro | 1731 | House | One of the oldest houses in central Pennsylvania |
| Bartram's Garden | Philadelphia, Kingsessing | 1731 | House | The home of John Bartram (1699–1777), America's first botanist and father of William Bartram (1739–1823), himself an eminent botanist and artist |
| Ephrata Cloister | Ephrata | 1732 | Religious | Established in 1732 by Johann Conrad Beissel; one of the oldest religious communities in the United States; had the second German printing press in the American colonies which published the largest book by page count in the colonies, Martyrs Mirror |
| Shelter House | Emmaus | c. 1734–41 | House | Longest site of continuous habitation in the Lehigh Valley area |
| Old Norriton Presbyterian Church | East Norriton Township | 1737 | Religious | Congregation practicing in vicinity since 1698. |
| Reading Furnace Home | East Nantmeal Township | 1736 | House & furnace | Historical house owned by the local Irons works owner and a United States Army officer Samuel Van Leer. The location is listed as a temporary George Washington Headquarter. |
| Augustus Lutheran Church | Trappe | 1743 | Religious | Oldest unchanged Lutheran church building in the United States in continuous use by the same congregation |
| Grumblethorpe | Philadelphia, Germantown | 1744 | House | |
| Wister Tenant House | Philadelphia, 5269 Germantown Avenue | c. 1745 | House | |
| Belmont Mansion | Philadelphia, Fairmount Park | 1745 | House |
| The Monastery | Philadelphia, Wissahickon Park | 1747 | House | |
| Glen Fern | Philadelphia, 1100 Livezey Lane | 1747 | House | Glen Fern, also known as the Livezey House, is a fine example of Colonial architecture. This mill that later was one of the largest on the Wissahickon, just below Cresheim Creek, was built by Thomas Shoemaker in 1746 on twenty acres of land purchased from John Harmer on February 5, 1746. The deed mentions buildings and improvements. |
| Green Tree Tavern | Philadelphia, 6023 Germantown Avenue | 1748 | House | This attractive house of stone was built by Daniel Pastorius, a grandson of Francis Daniel Pastorius, in 1748. The house contains a date stone with the inscription “DSP 1748,” for Daniel and Sarah Pastorius. Daniel kept a tavern there until his death in 1754. |
| Cresheim Cottage | Philadelphia, 7402 Germantown Avenue | c. 1748 | House | A plaque on the exterior states the cottage was built in 1700 but in all likelihood it was constructed about half a century later. |
| Shippen-Blair House | Philadelphia, 6043 Germantown Avenue | c. 1750 | House | This house was also known as "The Laurens." |
| Van Leer Cabin | Tredyffrin Township, Pennsylvania | 1759 | Cabin | Historic cabin and one of the last historical dwellings in Tredyffrin Township, Pennsylvania |
| Germantown White House | Philadelphia, Germantown | 1752 | House | Twice served as temporary residence of George Washington during his presidency |
| Old Germantown Academy and Headmasters' Houses | Philadelphia, Germantown | 1760 | School | |
| Mount Pleasant Mansion | Philadelphia, Fairmount Park | 1761-62 | House | Built by Thomas Nevell. John Adams visited the mansion in 1775 and called it "the most elegant seat in Pennsylvania." |
| Cliveden | Philadelphia, Germantown | 1762 | House | Home of Thomas Pettit | Dover Township, York County | 1763 | House | Home of Benjamin Chew and scene of fighting during the Battle of Germantown |
| Fort Pitt Blockhouse | Pittsburgh | 1764 | Defense | Oldest structure in Pittsburgh and one of the oldest colonial structures west of the Allegheny Mountains |
| Harris Cameron Mansion | Harrisburg | 1765 | House | |
| Chichester Friends Meetinghouse | Upper Chichester Township | 1769 | Religious | Quaker meeting house first built in 1688; rebuilt after a fire in 1769. |
| Summerseat | Morrisville | c. 1770 | House | Only house in America owned by two signers of the United States Constitution and Declaration of Independence, Robert Morris and George Clymer; headquarters of George Washington while he plotted the Battle of Trenton |
| Wyckoff-Mason House | Verona | 1774 | House | |
| Concord School House | Philadelphia, Germantown | 1775 | School | |
| White Horse Tavern (Douglassville, Pennsylvania) | Douglassville | 1780 | Tavern | The building operated as a tavern for 90 years until it was converted into a three-family residence in 1870. In 1971, the building was restored and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. |
| Van Leer Pleasant Hill Plantation | West Nantmeal Township, Pennsylvania | c. 1780 | House | Historic stone farmhouse located near Glen Moore in West Nantmeal Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania |
| Tomlinson-Huddleston House | Langhorne | 1783 | House | |
| Denison House | Forty Fort | 1790 | House | Oldest house in Luzerne County |
| Headhouse at New Market | Philadelphia, Society Hill | 1804 | Firehouse | Oldest firehouse in the United States |
| Dickson Tavern | Erie | 1815 | Commercial | Oldest building in Erie |
| Academy Hall | Edinboro | 1857 | School | Oldest normal school building in Pennsylvania; on the Edinboro University campus |
| Sturgis Pretzel House | Lititz | 1861 | Commercial | Oldest commercial pretzel bakery in the United States |