Barr Terrace is a historic three-story

row house A terrace, terraced house (British English, UK), or townhouse (American English, US) is a type of medium-density housing which first started in 16th century Europe with a row of joined houses party wall, sharing side walls. In the United States ...

Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska. The city covers and had a population of 291,082 as of the 2020 census. It is the state's List of cities in Nebraska, second-most populous city a ...

. It was built in 1890 for William Barr, a German immigrant, and designed in the Châteauesque architectural style. It has been listed on 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 ...

since October 1, 1979. It was restored in 1979–1980.

History

The structure was built in 1890 for William Barr, a German immigrant and real estate investor who first settled in Lincoln in 1861, when it was still known as Lancaster. Barr also owned

Lyman Terrace The Lyman Terrace is a historic three-story apartment building in Lincoln, Nebraska. It was built in 1889 for Charles W. Lyman, and designed in the eclectic style by architect Ferdinand C. Fiske. With By 1890, it belonged to William Barr, a Germ ...

. Another owner was Homan J. Walsh, a real estate investor and businessman who served as a councilman. Below the three stories, which were built with bricks, there is a basement, built with rusticated stones. (an excerpt from Thematic Resources document). With The

mansard roof A mansard or mansard roof (also called French roof or curb roof) is a multi-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper, and often punctured by dormer wi ...

was built with

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

, and the windowsills with

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

. The building was designed in the

Châteauesque Châteauesque (or Francis I style,Whiffen, Marcus, ''American Architecture Since 1780: A guide to the styles'', The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1969, p. 142. or in Canada, the Château Style) is a revivalist architectural style based on the ...

style by architect Ferdinand C. Fiske, a

Cornell Cornell University is a private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson White in 1865. Since ...

-educated architect who designed many buildings in Nebraska. On the southern side of the building, there is a tourelle. An 1890 article in the '' Nebraska State Journal'' noted, "These two properties of Messrs. Barr, Barnes (Barr Terrace) and Lyman (Lyman Terrace) are the beginning of a tendency to erect fine tenement residences that will be substantial ornaments to the city." By 1979, the building's owner was listed as James Brygger. Brygger had recently graduated from the

University of Nebraska–Lincoln The University of Nebraska–Lincoln (Nebraska, NU, or UNL) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Lincoln, Nebraska, United States. Chartered in 1869 by the Nebraska Legislature as part of the M ...

's School of Architecture, and he purchased the building with the help of an investor to restore it. According to a 1980 article in the ''

Lincoln Journal Star The ''Lincoln Journal Star'' is an American daily newspaper that serves Lincoln, Nebraska, the state capital and home of the University of Nebraska. It is the most widely read newspaper in Lincoln and has the second-largest circulation in ...

'', "Singlehandedly, he ripped, tore and pounded apart the interior, demolishing the original -- and deteriorated -- walls, floors and ceilings. The work was too much for one, so he subcontracted, adding workers to build cabinetry and assist him." Once restored, it was marketed as rentals for the middle class. The building has been listed on the

since October 1, 1979.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barr Terrace National Register of Historic Places in Lincoln, Nebraska Châteauesque architecture in the United States Residential buildings completed in 1890 1890 establishments in Nebraska Apartment buildings in Nebraska