German Settlers in the American colonies used local materials to recreate building styles from their homeland.

Developed after about 1675, when the Delaware River Valley area (Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware) was settled by immigrants from Sweden, Finland, Scotland, Ireland, Germany and several other northern European nations. The early colonists to this region adapted the "half-timber" style of construction then popular in Europe, which used a frame of braced timbers filled-in with masonry. The "bank house" was a popular form of home during this period, typically constructed into a hillside for protection during the cold winters and hot summers of the region.

 

Schifferstadt Architectural Museum in Frederick, Maryland is a landmark example of German Colonial Architecture. 

Typical of German Colonial architecture, the Schifferstadt Architectural Museum has these features:

 

Most often found in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Maryland

Two-feet thick walls made with sandstone

Reinforced stone arches above the first floor windows and doors

Hand-hewn beams pinned with wooden pegs

Exposed half-timbering

Flared eaves

Massive wishbone-shaped chimney