Ground stable barns are a relatively modern type of barn design found in many places across the United States. Mostly constructed after 1910 when government health regulations associated with the dairy industry were altered forcing changes in barn design.
These gambrel roofed buildings were widely adopted throughout the U.S. Promoted by agricultural college experiment station, these barns had washable concrete floors. Cattle were housed at ground level in steel pipe stanchion. The hay loft above is generally ample due to the gambrel roof, which can be erected with pre fabricated trusses. Small milk houses were usually attached to the main barn building and ventilators topped the roof providing fresh air. [1]
A barn is an agricultural building usually on farms and used for various purposes. In the North American area, a barn refers to structures that house livestock, including cattle and horses, as well as equipment and fodder, and often grain. As a result, the term barn is often qualified e.g. tobacco barn, dairy barn, sheep barn, potato barn. In the British Isles, the term barn is restricted mainly to storage structures for unthreshed cereals and fodder, the terms byre or shippon being applied to cow shelters, whereas horses are kept in buildings known as stables. In mainland Europe, however, barns were often part of integrated structures known as byre-dwellings. In addition, barns may be used for equipment storage, as a covered workplace, and for activities such as threshing.
A mansard or mansard roof is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its sides with the lower slope, punctured by dormer windows, at a steeper angle than the upper. The steep roof with windows creates an additional floor of habitable space, and reduces the overall height of the roof for a given number of habitable stories. The upper slope of the roof may not be visible from street level when viewed from close proximity to the building.
A gambrel or gambrel roof is a usually symmetrical two-sided roof with two slopes on each side. The upper slope is positioned at a shallow angle, while the lower slope is steep. This design provides the advantages of a sloped roof while maximizing headroom inside the building's upper level and shortening what would otherwise be a tall roof. The name comes from the Medieval Latin word gamba, meaning horse's hock or leg. The term gambrel is of American origin, the older, European name being a curb roof.
Dutch Colonial is a style of domestic architecture, primarily characterized by gambrel roofs having curved eaves along the length of the house. Modern versions built in the early 20th century are more accurately referred to as "Dutch Colonial Revival", a subtype of the Colonial Revival style.
A round barn is a historic barn design that could be octagonal, polygonal, or circular in plan. Though round barns were not as popular as some other barn designs, their unique shape makes them noticeable. The years from 1880–1920 represent the height of round barn construction. Round barn construction in the United States can be divided into two overlapping eras. The first, the octagonal era, spanned from 1850–1900. The second, the true circular era, spanned from 1889–1936. The overlap meant that round barns of both types, polygonal and circular, were built during the latter part of the nineteenth century. Numerous round barns in the United States are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
A bank barn or banked barn is a style of barn noted for its accessibility, at ground level, on two separate levels. Often built into the side of a hill, or bank, both the upper and the lower floors area could be accessed from ground level, one area at the top of the hill and the other at the bottom. The second level of a bank barn also could be accessed from a ramp if a hill was not available.
The design of a prairie barn, also known as the Western barn, reflects the iconic image of an American barn. The peak roof over the hay loft is what helps give the prairie barn its familiarity across the landscape. It was popularized during the settlement of the American West during the 19th century.
Dutch barn is the name given to markedly different types of barns in the United States and Canada, and in the United Kingdom. In the United States, Dutch barns represent the oldest and rarest types of barns. There are relatively few—probably fewer than 600—of these barns still intact. Common features of these barns include a core structure composed of a steep gabled roof, supported by purlin plates and anchor beam posts, the floor and stone piers below. Little of the weight is supported by the curtain wall, which could be removed without affecting the stability of the structure. Large beams of pine or oak bridge the center aisle for animals to provide room for threshing. Entry was through paired doors on the gable ends with a pent roof over them, and smaller animal doors at the corners of the same elevations. The Dutch Barn has a square profile, unlike the more rectangular English or German barns. In the United Kingdom a structure called a Dutch barn is a relatively recent agricultural development meant specifically for hay and straw storage; most examples were built from the 19th century. British Dutch barns represent a type of pole barn in common use today. Design styles range from fixed roof to adjustable roof; some Dutch barns have honeycombed brick walls, which provide ventilation and are decorative as well. Still other British Dutch barns may be found with no walls at all, much like American pole barns.
The Thomas Ranck Round Barn is a round barn in Waterloo Township near the Fayette-Wayne County, Indiana county line. It is one of many round barns built in Indiana during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Of the round barns built in eastern Indiana during this period the Ranck Round Barn stands out as one of the most elaborately designed structures. The Thomas Ranck Round Barn was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in January 1983.
Brook Farm is a historic country estate farm at 4203 Twenty Mile Stream Road in Cavendish, Vermont. It includes one of the state's grandest Colonial Revival mansion houses, and surviving outbuildings of a model farm of the turn of the 20th century. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993. The property is now home to the Brook Farm Vineyard.
Harbor House, also known as the George C. Case Estate, is a national historic district located at Nissequogue in Suffolk County, New York. The district encompasses an estate with two contributing buildings, one contributing site, and two contributing structures. The estate house is a two story with full attic structure with a gambrel roof designed in 1910. Also on the property are a contributing carriage barn / stable and a well house.
The New England Barn was the most common style of barn built in most of the 19th century in rural New England and variants are found throughout the United States. This style barn superseded the ”three-bay barn” in several important ways. The most obvious difference is the location of the barn doors on the gable-end(s) rather than the sidewall(s). The New England and three bay barns were used similarly as multipurpose farm buildings but the New England barns are typically larger and have a basement. Culturally the New England Barn represents a shift from subsistence farming to commercial farming thus are larger and show significant changes in American building methods and technologies. Most were used as dairy barns but some housed teams of oxen which are generally called teamster barns. Sometimes these barns are simply called “gable fronted” and “gable fronted bank barns” but these terms are also used for barns other than the New England style barn such as in Maryland and Virginia which is not exactly the same style as found in New England. A similar style found in parts of the American mid-west and south is called a transverse frame barn or transverse crib barn.
The Agronomy Barn Seed House, located on the Agronomy Research Station of Oklahoma State University, was built in 1934. It is a brick, concrete, frame barn, measuring 108 feet long, 44 feet wide, and 37 feet 9 inches high, and is distinguished by a large gambrel roof. The ground floor as well as the loft is concrete. In design it is very typical of barns of the period. The barn was designed and constructed by Oklahoma State University students, architects, professors, and engineers.
The Hemingway House and Barn is a historic summer estate at 3310 Old Missouri Road in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The house is a two-story wood-frame gambrel-roofed structure, set in a landscape designed by Little Rock architect Charles L. Thompson. The house and barn were built for Elwin Hemingway, a local lawyer. The barn, located just southwest of the house, is believed to be the only architect-designed structure of its type in the state.
The Menno Yoder barn is one of the two remaining poured concrete polygonal barns in the United States state of Indiana. Built on the outskirts of Shipshewana in 1908 by Menno Yoder, this twelve-sided barn has been expanded upon. It is known as the Brown Swiss Dairy barn. A gravel drive extends to the barn, passing the 1911 concrete farmhouse. The polygonal barn consists of the original 1908 twelve-sided barn, a 1911 attached silo, a c.1920 rectangular addition, and a 1960s one story addition. Next to the barn is a free standing c.1950 milk house.
The Hager Farm is a historic farmstead on United States Route 7 in southern Wallingford, Vermont. Its farmhouse, built about 1800, is one of the oldest in the community, and is regionally unusual because of its gambrel roof. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.
Linden Terrace is a historic house at 191 Grove Street in Rutland, Vermont. Built in 1912 as a summer estate for a prominent businessman, it is one of the finer surviving summer houses of the period in southern Vermont. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007. It now houses senior and assisted living apartments.
The Mathias C. and Eva B. Crowell Fuhrman Farm is an agricultural historic district located north of Independence, Iowa, United States. At the time of its nomination it consisted of seven resources, which included three contributing buildings, two contributing sites, one non-contributing building, and one non-contributing structure. The significance of the district is attributed to its being a collection of farm related buildings that exemplify the changes in farming in the local area. The contributing buildings include the 1906 Queen Anne house, the 1901 frame barn with a gambrel roof, the 1920s corncrib, and the ruins of the 1920s hog house and a stable (1865). The stable is believed to date from the original development of the farmstead. The metal machine shed and a silo are the non-contributing elements. Three generations of the Fuhrman family operated the farm until it was sold to Tom and Beth Greenley. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.
Reading Town Hall, the town hall of Reading, Vermont, is located at the junction of Vermont Route 106 and Pleasant Street in the village of Felchville. Built in 1915 as a gift from a native son, the barn-like structure is a fine local example of Colonial Revival architecture, and has been a center of local civic activity since its construction. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.
A Gothic-arched roof barn or Gothic-arch barn or Gothic barn or rainbow arch is a barn whose profile is in the ogival shape of a Gothic arch. These became economically feasible when arch members could be formed by a lamination process. The distinctive roofline features a center peak as in a gable roof, but with symmetrical curved rafters instead of straight ones. The roof could extend to the ground making the roof and walls a complete arch, or be built as an arched roof on top of traditionally framed walls.