A log house tucked behind decades of stucco on County Line Road in Bryn Mawr is on track to become one of Lower Merion Township's most strictly protected buildings. On October 14, the township's Building & Planning Committee voted to authorize advertising an ordinance that would add 901 County Line Road to the municipality's Class I historic resource inventory, teeing up a public hearing before the Board of Commissioners.
The property is officially recorded in township historical files as the Reese-Cornog Log House, according to Lower Merion Township. As reported by Mainline Media News, Lower Merion historic preservation planner Greg Prichard told the committee the house likely dates back to the township's earliest days and has ties to some of the first property owners in the Bryn Mawr area.
From Foreclosure Wreck to Hidden Colonial Frame
The structure's current owner, Jude Plum, bought the dilapidated property in 2013, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer, which reported Plum grew up next door to the site. Peeling back five layers of siding and stucco revealed an oak log frame underneath, a discovery that upended what had looked like an ordinary, aging house. Per the same account, the land traces to a 1682 grant from William Penn to Rees Thomas, a Welsh Quaker who became a prominent early settler in the area's Welsh Tract — whose descendants later built the nearby Ashbridge House in 1769.
Patch reported that structural evaluations found the 1,056-square-foot, 1.5-story home was built from heavy oak logs and still has two original interior stone fireplaces, details that underscored just how much history had been buried under layers of exterior material. The same outlet noted the Bryn Mawr find surfaced around the same time Revolutionary War bayonets were unearthed at nearby Valley Forge, per Patch.
A Decade of Restoration, Award-Winning Work
Per Mainline Media News, the renovation stretched across roughly a decade and included replacing deteriorated original logs with compatible salvaged materials pulled from buildings of similar age. Prichard told the outlet that township archives don't hold the original building plans, but researchers and Plum have dug into the house's history on their own. The restoration earned a Lower Merion Township Historic Preservation Award in 2017 and drew coverage from the Main Line Times and other outlets, the publication reported.
Board President Todd Sinai commended the owner for the work done on the building, according to Mainline Media News. Prichard told the committee the property was in poor condition when Plum purchased it roughly 10 to 12 years earlier, and that Plum nominated the house for historic designation and wants it preserved exactly as it now stands — agreeing that Class I status is the best way to make that happen.
What Class I Status Would Mean
Under Lower Merion Township Code, Class I is the strongest tier of municipal historic protection, requiring the Board of Commissioners to explicitly sign off before any demolition could proceed, according to a legal summary published by CaseMine. Any alterations would also face review by the Historical Commission or the township's Historical Architectural Review Board. Mainline Media News reported that Class I resources also require Board of Commissioners approval before demolition, echoing that same high bar.
The designation isn't purely restrictive. Class I properties in Lower Merion qualify for use and setback relief under Chapter 155's Historic Resources Overlay District, giving owners zoning flexibility and conditional-use incentives intended to offset the cost of preservation and upkeep, per Lower Merion Township. That pairing offers protection alongside zoning perks for owners.
Following the 2017 unveiling of the log frame, Plum publicly said he hoped to eventually turn the restored house into a community museum and pursue a listing on the National Register of Historic Places, according to Patch's earlier reporting. The property sits on an 8,000-square-foot lot. The ordinance now heads toward a public hearing before Lower Merion's Board of Commissioners, where final adoption would lock in the township's strongest layer of protection for the centuries-old home.
