Historic Salkeld Larkin House Move

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Aston, PA / October 2024

The Salkeld Larkin house was built around 1824 in the classic stone farmhouse style used by Pennsylvania’s settlers for over two hundred years. With 20-inch-thick stone walls, three fireplaces, and 2 ½ stories, the house weathered two centuries with sturdy resilience.

When the land it stood on was chosen for development, the developers decided to preserve the house by relocating it 200 feet to a new position on the property. Wolfe House Movers, LLC, a leading structural moving company with extensive experience in heavy masonry relocations, was contracted for the project.

After placing cribbing and steel beams under the building, Wolfe used unified jacking machines and crib jacks to lift the house and set dollies under it for the relocation. On the day of the move, they drove the dollies across the worksite and up a graded ramp to the new location, rotating the house 90 degrees over the duration of the route for proper orientation at the new location.

When the house was precisely aligned with the new foundation footprint, Wolfe built crib piles to support the house and removed the dollies. After the new foundation walls were complete, the crew returned to release the house onto the new foundation and remove the steel and cribbing.