Abbe Science Center
New Hope, Penn.
Hillier Architecture

Country living inspired Hillier Architecture to experiment with cedar-barn and grain-shed aesthetics

© Albert Vecerka/Esto

For more photos click on 'photos & drawings' above. To see the people and products behind this project click on 'people & products.'

By Jane F. Kolleeny

The setting in Buck’s County around New Hope, Pennsylvania, couldn’t be more romantic. Mossy and weathered stone walls define the boundaries of the fields of the pastoral farms that dominate the area. The Solebury School occupies such a farm, built by a Quaker family in the 18th century, consisting of a barn, farmhouse, and carriage house. The school, which opened in 1925 and purchased its present site the following year, today accommodates about 220 coed students, 64 of whom live on campus, in grades 7–12.

The school desperately needed a science building to replace the tiny one it had. In its land-use plan, Hillier established an appropriate location for the L-shaped building that, together with an existing stucco library, defines a quad. The quad opens to a field that will soon be the site for playing fields and the school’s new gym. Both the original wood-frame gym [featured in architectural record, July 1949, page 128] and the headmaster’s house were designed by William Hunt, a well-established midcentury architect. Together, the existing farm and these two buildings determined the design context in which subsequent buildings evolved.

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Location:
New Hope, Penn.

Gross square footage:
13,200 sq. ft.

Total construction cost:
$3.06 Million

Owner:
Solebury School
Phillips Mill Road
New Hope, PA 18938-0429
t. 215.862.5261 f. 215.862.3366
www.solebury.com
John D. Brown, Headmaster

Architect:
Hillier Architecture
500 Alexander Road
Princeton, New Jersey
08540-CN23
t. 609.452.8888 f. 609.452.8332
www.hillier.com