John Augustus Dempwolf - The Architect of Taneytown’s Main Street
David Buie
(3/31) Driving through Taneytown, one will quickly notice some similarities in architecture to York. Those similarities exist due to one architect, John Augustus Dempwolf, who is responsible for the design of seven buildings in Taneytown: John
McKellip House, Dr. Motter's Horse Stable, Taneytown Presbyterian Church, N.B. Hagan House and Grocery Store, Edward Eugene Reindollar House, Trinity Lutheran Church, and the Birnie Trust Company Building .
Before exploring the buildings of Dempwolf and the legacy he left in Taneytown, let's take a quick look at his life. John Augustus (J. A.) Dempwolf (1848-1926) was nineteen at the time he emigrated from Germany and settled in York. After brief employment at a milling company, he became interested in building construction.
In 1871 he moved to New York where he worked as a construction foreman during the day and took architectural and design classes at night. After graduation in 1873, J. A. oversaw the construction of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston.
In 1874 he returned to York to design his first church, St. John's German Lutheran Church. With the construction complete, J. A. moved to Philadelphia to work in the architectural firm of Stephen Button who had received a commission for buildings for the Centennial Exhibition that Philadelphia would host in 1876.
Dempwolf had planned to stay in Philadelphia but returned to York in 1876 to start his own firm. He opened an architecture office on the Continental Square, which he would occupy for the next fifty years until his 1926 death.
Although Dempwolf certainly left his mark on York, he also made important contributions to Taneytown’s architecture. It is easy to see similarities between his York buildings and the seven structures he designed in Taneytown.
The John McKellip House, located at 7 Frederick Street, was the first of the Dempwolf-designed buildings in Taneytown. John McKellip (1828-1923) operated a drug store on this lot in 1853. The house was built in 1880 with a drug store attached to the right side. The home features a double front door, peaked dormer, and end chimneys. It was occupied by McKellip's
daughter and her husband, Bentley Brining. Brining was also McKellip's business partner. It is unclear when the pharmacy portion of the home was removed. However, in an article on John McKellip that appeared in the April 1908 edition of "The Druggist Circular," McKellip stated that the business was the oldest in Taneytown, having been established in 1853, and that
both his home and business were built on the original property of Major John McKaleb.
There is very little known regarding the design and construction of Dr. Motter's Horse Stable built in 1881 on the property of Dr. George Troxell Motter (1842-1903). Motter moved to 10 York Street following his marriage to Mary Louise Rudisel in 1869. In Volume X of "The American Architect and Building News" there is mention of the stable: "Taneytown – Dr.
Motter is building a stable; cost $1,500. J. A. Dempwolf, architect, York, Pa." Comparing the structure currently standing on 10 York Street with the Dempwolf blueprints available on the York County History Center website, the original building remains with a few modifications.
In 1820 a group of English-speaking Presbyterians in Taneytown covenanted with the predominantly German-speaking Reformed Church to create a "union congregation" and erected a church that they shared although, because of the language differences, they did not worship together. The two congregations met separately until 1883 when the Presbyterians purchased the
present lot at 36 York Street, sold their share of the "union church" to the German Reformed congregation for $300, and contracted with Dempwolf to build their own church. His proposal was accepted in late March/April 1883. The structure was completed at a cost of $3,600 and dedicated at the end of the year.
The finished structure was in Victorian Gothic Ecclesiastical style with a side gable entrance and a tall pointed spire. Both the interior and the exterior remained untouched for seventy-five years. In 1959 a fellowship hall, kitchen, mechanical room, and indoor restrooms were added by raising the church structure on building jacks, installing a new foundation,
and then excavating a walk-out basement with the same footprint as the sanctuary building above. The church is currently used by the congregation of St. James the Apostle Orthodox Church based in Westminster.
The Norman Hagan House and Grocery Store, located at 6-8 Fredrick Street, was constructed in 1890 over the original site of the Adam Good Tavern. The tavern, an icon of Taneytown history, is famous for the overnight stay of George and Martha Washington in the summer of 1791. The circumstances surrounding the removal of the original log structure owned by Adam
Good are not known, but Dempwolf’s two-story, Classical Revival style, H-shaped building remains. From 1890 until Hagan’s death, the store operated as a confectionary/grocery store. The building, which sits empty today, has subsequently housed a soda fountain/bowling alley, printing business, restaurant, and antique shop.
The Edward Reindollar Home
The Edward Reindollar Home, located at 9 York Street, was designed by J. A. Dempwolf and constructed in 1896 by Daniel Fair (1840-1915), a local builder. The house is an ornate example of the ‘Classical Revival style.’ One of its features is "an unusual terra cotta plaque in the central bay of the second story, flanked by curved windows on each side of the
Palladian windows set in the cross gables on the first floor." While residing at 9 York Street, E. E. Reindollar (1853-1921) became an influential Taneytown businessman. Among other accomplishments, he founded the Reindollar Company and served as its president until his death at age 68. The home is currently for sale.
The original Trinity Lutheran Church, dedicated in 1811, was a simple brick structure housing the German Evangelical Lutheran congregation. That building received three significant additions in 1840, 1871, and 1897. The final renovation was completed by Dempwolf and dedicated on May 9, 1897. The cost of his improvements and additions totaled just over $17,000.
In her 2010 master's thesis submitted to the Graduate Schools of Clemson University and The College of Charleston, Rebecca Morrish Cybularz provided the following description of the changes he made: "The Dempwolf renovations reoriented the front fa
