Thomas Cernea

The only known surviving buildings of architect Thomas Lester Cernea are located in Bucks County. One surviving building is the distinctive former office building of The Daily Intelligencer, Central Bucks County's local newspaper, which is located on Main Street in Doylestown. Another surviving structure is the Lenape Building, also in Doylestown. Cernea was the son of the prominent Bucks County physician, Arthur D. Cernea, who was one of the first signers of the constitution and by-laws of the Bucks County Medical Society in 1848. Thomas was listed in the Philadelphia City Directories as an architect who first worked in the offices of Samuel Sloan and later at an address shared by Addison Hutton, B. Frank Leeds, and John Ord, a group of architects carrying on the Quaker tradition of working together. Cernea also painted and exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1864 and 1867. The subject of his paintings were scenes of Bucks County.

Connection to Bucks County
Cernea's father was a noted Bucks County physician and founding member of the Bucks County Medical Society in 1848. All of Cernea's known buildings are located in Bucks County, including the former Daily Intelligencer office building. Cernea was also the architect of the General Green Inn, a local landmark building at the intersection of Route 263 and Durham Road in Buckingham. The paintings Cernea exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts were Bucks County landscapes.

Teachers and Influences
Worked with Samuel Sloan, Addison Hutton, Frank Leeds, and John Ord, who were Quaker architects in Philadelphia

Architectural Works
Bunting Residence, Newtown, Pennsylvania, 1874
Daily Intelligencer Building, designed with Addison Hutton, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, 1876
Doylestown National Bank, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, 1870
General Green Inn, Buckingham, Pennsylvania, n.d.
H.T. Darlington House, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, 1878
John Farren's Property, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, c. 1870
Lenape Building, designed with Addison Hutton, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, 1874
Major Joseph B. Roberts House, Newtown, Pennsylvania, 1874
Neshaminy Cemetery Chapel, 1871
Newtown Cemetery, Newtown, Pennsylvania, c. 1862
Newtown Enterprise Building, Newtown, Pennsylvania, c. 1874
R.W. Hamilton House, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, 1871
Receiving Vault, Doylestown Cemetery, 1871
Ruckman Residence, Solebury, Pennsylvania, n.d.
Titus-Chapman-Lyman House, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, 1873