Dutch barn is the name given to markedly different types of

barn A barn is an agricultural building usually on farms and used for various purposes. In North America, a barn refers to structures that house livestock, including cattle and horses, as well as equipment and fodder, and often grain.Allen G ...

s in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, and in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. In the United States, Dutch barns (a. k. a. New World 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 A gable roof is a roof consisting of two sections whose upper horizontal edges meet to form its roof ridge, ridge. The most common roof shape in cold or temperate climates, it is constructed of rafters, roof trusses or purlins. The roof pitch, p ...

, supported by

purlin A purlin (or historically purline, purloyne, purling, perling) is a longitudinal, horizontal, structural member in a roof. In traditional timber framing there are three basic types of purlin: purlin plate, principal purlin, and common purlin. P ...

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 Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticate ...

and

straw Straw is an agricultural byproduct consisting of the dry wikt:stalk, stalks of cereal plants after the grain and chaff have been removed. It makes up about half of the crop yield, yield by weight of cereal crops such as barley, oats, rice, ry ...

storage; most examples were built from the 19th century. British Dutch barns represent a type of

pole barn Pole framing or post-frame construction (pole building framing, pole building, pole barn) is a simplified building technique that is an alternative to the labor-intensive traditional timber framing technique. It uses large poles or posts buri ...

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.

In the United States

The New World Dutch barn is the rarest of the American barn forms. The remaining American Dutch-style barns represent relics from the 18th and 19th centuries. Dutch barns were the first great barns built in the

, mostly by Dutch settlers in

New Netherlands New Netherland () was a colony of the Dutch Republic located on the East Coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territories extended from the Delmarva Peninsula to Cape Cod. Settlements were established in what became the states ...

New Netherlander New Netherlanders were residents of New Netherland, the seventeenth-century colonial outpost of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the northeastern coast of North America, centered around New York Harbor, the Hudson Valley, and ...

s settled along the Hackensack,

Passaic Passaic ( or ) is a city in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city was the state's 16th-most-populous municipality,Raritan,

Millstone Millstones or mill stones are stones used in gristmills, used for triturating, crushing or, more specifically, grinding wheat or other grains. They are sometimes referred to as grindstones or grinding stones. Millstones come in pairs: a s ...

rivers and their tributaries in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. In

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, they concentrated in the

Hudson Valley The Hudson Valley or Hudson River Valley comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The region stretches from the Capital District (New York), Capital District includi ...

, and along the

Mohawk River The Mohawk River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed October 3, 2011 river in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is the largest tributary of the Hudson R ...

and

Schoharie Creek Schoharie Creek is a river in New York (state), New York that flows north from the foot of Indian Head Mountain (New York), Indian Head Mountain in the Catskill Mountains, Catskills through the Schoharie Valley to the Mohawk River. It is twice ...

. Many Dutch barns also were built in other portions of the

American Northeast The Northeastern United States (also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast) is census regions United States Census BureauLocated on the Atlantic coast of North America, the region borders Canada to its nort ...

History

Relatively few—probably fewer than 600—Dutch barns survive intact in the 21st century. Those that remain date from the 18th and early 19th century. Dutch barns rarely remain in a good, unaltered condition.Auer, Michael J
The Preservation of Historic Barns
, Preservation Briefs, National Park Service, first published October 1989. Retrieved 7 February 2007. The Dutch Barn Preservation Society has cataloged hundreds of standing Dutch Barns throughout the Hudson, Mohawk, and Schoharie Valleys as well as in New Jersey. Schoharie County Historian Harold Zoch regularly speaks on Dutch barns.

Examples

New World Dutch Barns in the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

include the

Wortendyke Barn Wortendyke Barn, at 13 Pascack Road in Park Ridge, Bergen County, New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United St ...

, Windfall Dutch Barn, and an example at the Caspar Getman Farmstead.

Design

Ingestort gedeelte schuur - Nutter - 20170459 - RCE

The exterior features a broad

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

roof, which, in early Dutch barns extended very low to the ground. The barns feature center doors for wagons on the narrow end. A pent roof, or a pentice, over the doors offered some protection from inclement weather. The siding was usually horizontal and had few details. Dutch barns often lacked windows and had no openings other than the doors and holes for

purple martin The purple martin (''Progne subis'') is a passerine bird in the swallow family Hirundinidae. It is the largest swallow in North America. Despite its name, the purple martin is not truly purple. The dark blackish-blue feathers have an iridescent ...

s to enter. The design of the Dutch barn allows it to have a massive presence, giving it an appearance larger by comparison to other barns. Inside the barns are supported by heavy structural systems. The mortised and tenoned and pegged beams are arranged in "H-shaped" units. The design alludes to

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

interiors with

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member ...

ed aisles along a central interior space, used in Dutch barns for

threshing Threshing or thrashing is the process of loosening the edible part of grain (or other crop) from the straw to which it is attached. It is the step in grain preparation after reaping. Threshing does not remove the bran from the grain. History of ...

. It is this design that links Dutch barns to the

Old World The "Old World" () is a term for Afro-Eurasia coined by Europeans after 1493, when they became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia in the Eastern Hemisphere, previously ...

barns of Europe. Another distinctive feature of the Dutch barn is that the ends of the cross beams protrude through the columns. These protrusions are often rounded to form tongues. This feature is not found in any other style of barn design.

Distribution

The Dutch barn was widely distributed in areas of New Jersey and New York. Dutch barns have been identified in southwestern

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, Illinois, and Kentucky in the United States Midwest. The

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

and

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

examples may have been misidentified when recorded, and might have been Midwest three portal barns instead. However, New Jersey Dutch are documented as having settled in Henry and Mercer counties in Kentucky so there may be reason to believe that the barns in Kentucky may actually be Dutch Barns. Further research is warranted.

In Canada

North of

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Dutch barns were found in the Dutch settled areas.

In the United Kingdom

What are called Dutch barns in the United Kingdom are sometimes called a hay barrack in the U.S., a specific type of barn developed for the storage of

. They have a roof, but no walls. These are a relatively recent development in the history of British farm architecture, most examples dating from the 19th century. Nowadays they are more commonly used to store

. They also are called

s and hay barns.The Conversion of Traditional Farm Buildings: A guide to good practice, by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

History

Early barn types in the U.K., such as aisled barns, were primarily used for the processing and temporary storage of grain. Processing comprised hand-threshing (later in history replaced by machine threshing): the grain would then be removed to a

granary A granary, also known as a grain house and historically as a granarium in Latin, is a post-harvest storage building primarily for grains or seeds. Granaries are typically built above the ground to prevent spoilage and protect the stored grains o ...

for permanent storage. Following the agricultural revolution of the 16th to mid-19th century, with its emphasis on the improvement of farming techniques, there was a marked increase in the amount of hay that was produced (partly due to the use of

water-meadow A water-meadow (also water meadow or watermeadow) is an area of grassland subject to controlled irrigation to increase agricultural productivity. Water-meadows were mainly used in Europe from the 16th to the early 20th centuries. Working wate ...

s and partly due to

crop rotation Crop rotation is the practice of growing a series of different types of crops in the same area across a sequence of growing seasons. This practice reduces the reliance of crops on one set of nutrients, pest and weed pressure, along with the pro ...

). The hay barn was developed in response to this: formerly the small amounts of precious hay produced had been stored in the

hayloft A hayloft is a space above a barn, stable or cow-shed, traditionally used for storage of hay or other fodder for the animals below. Haylofts were used mainly before the widespread use of very large Baler, hay bales, which allow simpler handling ...

s over the cow house or

stable A stable is a building in which working animals are kept, especially horses or oxen. The building is usually divided into stalls, and may include storage for equipment and feed. Styles There are many different types of stables in use tod ...

s, or in

stacks. However, haystacks are prone to spoiling in the rain, especially after the stack has been 'opened' for consumption. As the weather in the U.K. is often wet, several different types of hay barns evolved, but all shared certain characteristics: they were roofed and well-ventilated. Hay barns came into use at the end of the 18th century. Dutch barns are still very common in the U.K., and are nowadays most commonly used to store straw rather than hay.

Design

Various types of hay barn included those with 'honeycombed' brick walls, forming a decorative as well as practical form of ventilation, and the Dutch barn, which has a roof but open sides. The roof kept off the rain but the lack of walls allowed good ventilation around the hay and prevented spoiling. The term 'Dutch barn' has been used in the U.K. both to describe such structures with fixed roofs and those with adjustable roofs. The latter type are also, confusingly, sometimes called French barns. Due to their ease of construction these structures are often considered temporary and appear and disappear in the landscape; the interval is often determined by the life of the pole upright or the corrugated iron roof. They are often constructed with a rounded or arched

corrugated iron Corrugated galvanised iron (CGI) or steel, colloquially corrugated iron (near universal), wriggly tin (taken from UK military slang), pailing (in Caribbean English), corrugated sheet metal (in North America), zinc (in Cyprus and Nigeria) or ...

roof and with metal uprights, although frequently,

telegraph pole A utility pole, commonly referred to as a transmission pole, telephone pole, telecommunication pole, power pole, hydro pole, telegraph pole, or telegraph post, is a column or post used to support overhead power lines and various other public util ...

s are used for the uprights.

References

External links

Dutch Barn Preservation Society in the United States

Hudson Valley Vernacular Architecture
* hdl:10020/cifa910018, Finding aid for John Fitchen papers, 1927-1989,

Getty Research Institute The Getty Research Institute (GRI), located at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California, is "dedicated to furthering knowledge and advancing understanding of the visual arts".

, Los Angeles. Accession No. 910018. Most of the research materials relate to three of Fitchen's books: ''Construction of Gothic Cathedrals, The New World Dutch Barn,'' and ''Building Construction Before Mechanization''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Dutch Barn Barns Agriculture in the United Kingdom Agricultural buildings in the United States Architecture in the United States Architecture in the United Kingdom Timber framing Timber framed buildings

In the United States

History

Examples

Design

Distribution

In Canada

In the United Kingdom

History

Design

References

Further reading

External links