Grist Miller\u2019s House\u2019s interim shoring<\/a> even being repurposed for the project.<\/p>\nHBMS’s Taking the World Stage campaign to raise more than $7 million is most of the way there at $6.2 million. <\/p>\n
Wukitsch said the funds will go to finish the Overlook and opening accessibility from Main Street to the Grist Miller\u2019s House.<\/p>\n
![\"Grist](\"https:\/\/static.lehigh-v.lehigh-valley.production.k1.m1.brightspot.cloud\/dims4\/default\/05ab31b\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/1280x720+0+0\/resize\/880x495!\/quality\/90\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flehigh-valley-brightspot.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2F7a%2Fb5%2Ff6b233d540b5a1d04730f44f5ff8%2Fgrist-millers-house.JPG\")
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Distributed<\/p>\n
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Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites<\/p>\n
The 1782\/1834 Grist Miller\u2019s House, after being closed to the public for a couple of decades, welcomed folks back inside for the first time again on Saturday, April 26, 2025.<\/p>\n
Not made to mimic<\/p>\n
Like the buildings he’s worked to preserve, David Scott Parker has a history in Bethlehem.<\/p>\n
The renowned architect, now based in Southport, Connecticut, was Schwarz\u2019s prot\u00e9g\u00e9. In the mid-1980s, the two worked together on a tourism master plan for Bethlehem that led to the formation of HBMS.<\/p>\n
Parker completed historic structure reports for the Moravian Bell House and Single Sisters\u2019 House complex, reconstruction of the 1750 Smithy, restoration at Burnside Plantation and architecture for the National Museum of Industrial History, among others.<\/p>\n
![\"Connector](\"https:\/\/static.lehigh-v.lehigh-valley.production.k1.m1.brightspot.cloud\/dims4\/default\/dbbad09\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/1056x594+0+0\/resize\/880x495!\/quality\/90\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flehigh-valley-brightspot.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fe4%2F63%2F6492c2154491b10f69992042fed4%2Fconnector-between-the-mill-and-millers-house-c-1880.png\")
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Courtesy<\/p>\n
\/<\/p>\n
Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites<\/p>\n
Connector between the Mill and Miller’s House, c. 1880, at the Colonial Industrial Quarter in Historic Bethlehem.<\/p>\n
Beyond Bethlehem, his firm\u2019s work can be seen at the U.S. Treasury building in Washington D.C., and in Connecticut at Greenwich Historical Society and Mark Twain\u2019s House in Hartford.<\/p>\n
Facing a \u201cnexus of grades on site\u201d for the Overlook project, Parker said his team also had to consider the Overlook gallery would stand over an area unknown, one never dug by an archaeologist, he said \u2014 the old Antes flour mill site.<\/p>\n
After the Antes Mill succumbed to fire, the Luckenbach Mill was built partly on its foundations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat the Overlook gallery attempts to do is to re-establish the connection but to make it not a pseudo-reproduction when we don\u2019t have a lot of information on [the old Antes Mill], but rather to make it of our time,” Parker said.<\/p>\n
![\"Grist](\"https:\/\/static.lehigh-v.lehigh-valley.production.k1.m1.brightspot.cloud\/dims4\/default\/882ce39\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/1056x594+0+0\/resize\/880x495!\/quality\/90\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flehigh-valley-brightspot.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fea%2F04%2Fb057c57c49b78b5240dcbb62aa9d%2Fmillers-house-south-and-east-facades-1969.png\")
<\/p>\n
Courtesy <\/p>\n
\/<\/p>\n
Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites<\/p>\n
The Miller’s House south and east facades at the Colonial Industrial Quarter in Bethlehem.<\/p>\n
‘What would Ralph do?’<\/p>\n
The almost $2 million \u201cstructure of our own time\u201d \u2014 facing design approval by the National Park Service and sporting Italian-made glass panels with special UV filtering \u2014 will not serve to just mimic the buildings it connects, Parker said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHistoric buildings need to have a useful purpose that supports their ongoing life.”<\/p>\n
Overlook on History architect David Scott Parker<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea, actually, came up with connecting them, and then what we said was, \u2018What would Ralph do?\u2019\u201d Parker said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHistoric buildings need to have a useful purpose that supports their ongoing life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were trying to achieve a lot of things with a simple gesture, both functionally but also symbolically.\u201d<\/p>\n
Overlook on History also will feature a small terrace, outdoor exhibits in the area below the space to showcase the old Antes Mill and adjustable lighting for special events.<\/p>\n
Christine Ussler, of South Bethlehem-based Artefact Inc., serves as the project\u2019s local architect.<\/p>\n
The Grist Miller\u2019s House restoration received the 2025 Pennsylvania Historic Preservation Award from Preservation Pennsylvania, a nonprofit recognizing more than a dozen other projects around the state.<\/p>\n
![\"Overlook](\"https:\/\/static.lehigh-v.lehigh-valley.production.k1.m1.brightspot.cloud\/dims4\/default\/5a5e647\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/4032x2268+0+0\/resize\/880x495!\/quality\/90\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flehigh-valley-brightspot.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2F33%2Fcc%2F861b71dc43ffa75231b8b2bde47c%2Fimg-9266.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Will Oliver<\/p>\n
\/<\/p>\n
LehighValleyNews.com<\/p>\n
The glass-and-steel Overlook on History will feature the Ralph Schwarz Center for Colonial Industries \u2014 to showcase the area\u2019s historic trades through exhibitions, promote local artisan works and offer educational programs in a space large enough for two busloads of schoolchildren.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BETHLEHEM, Pa. \u2014 A new educational exhibit space going up in the Colonial Industrial Quarter will pay tribute…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":121073,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,57065,57066,57067,3485,13875,57068,57069,57070,635],"class_list":{"0":"post-121072","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-bethlehem","9":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","10":"tag-bethlehem-news","11":"tag-colonial-industrial-quarter","12":"tag-david-scott-parker","13":"tag-grist-millers-house-bethlehem","14":"tag-historic-bethlehem","15":"tag-historic-bethlehem-museums-sites","16":"tag-loriann-wukitsch","17":"tag-luckenbach-mill","18":"tag-overlook-on-history","19":"tag-will-oliver"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Overlook](\"https:\/\/static.lehigh-v.lehigh-valley.production.k1.m1.brightspot.cloud\/dims4\/default\/b0b5d9a\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/4400x2475+0+0\/resize\/880x495!\/quality\/90\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flehigh-valley-brightspot.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2F07%2F41%2Fc28679ff42149ca86449e44d17e5%2Fproposed-schwarz-center-straight-view-updated.jpg\")
<\/p>\n