IHS Built Environment Typology : Structures : Buildings :

Barns: Types, Subtypes, & Addition Types

A Typology

There is a wide range of barn types, wider than most publications descibe. This portion of the web site is an attempt to catalog and describe as many as I can find, recognize, and identify. Most examples are from Ohio.

Barn Types/Subtypes Encountered

Primary Regional and/or General Barn Types

[Folk / 1st Generation] Barn Types

The Barn types brought over from Europe by immigrants

...or should Gen 1 and 2 be combined - no clear division between what arrived and their first gen descendants?...

[Vernacular/Traditional / 2nd Generation] Barn Types

Yankee Barn or English Barn or Three-Bay Threshing Barn

New England Barn or Gable-Front Barn

Forebay Barn or German Barn or Pennsylvania Barn or Sweitzer Barn

[Vernacular/Traditional / 3rd Generation] Barn Types

Transverse Frame Barn or Transverse Crib Barn

[Popular/Designed / 4th 'Generation'] Barn Types

Non-Orthogonal (not rectangular) Barn Types : Circular or Polygonal

Circular / Round Barn Type

[Engineered/'Early' Modern / 5th 'Generation'] Barn Types

"Erie Shore" Barn Type

"Wisconsin (Dairy)" Barn Type

Secondary Livestock Barn Types

[Hayloft] Cattle Shed or [Center-Entry Wide-Rectangular] Livestock Barn (CEWR Lk B)

Tower Shed or [Single-Livestock] Barn

[Mountain Stable] Barn or "Mountain Stable" or "Appalachian Meadow Barn" or [Stable Barn]

[Golden Rectangle] Barn or [Square Cattle] Barn, Single-Pen Barn?

[Small Low Gable-Front Off-Center-Door] Barn (SLGfOcd B) or [Small Livestock] Barn

[Linear-Cattle Pen] Barn (LCP) or [Gable-Entry Narrow Rectangular] Livestock Barn

[Barn & Stable] Barn

[Cow Shed & Pigpen] Barn

Chicken Barns & Chicken Sheds (several subtypes)

Grain Barn Types

Granaries (several subtypes)

Corn "Cribs" / Corn Barns

See also addition types that incoporate corn cribs, and Grain Elevator Relations that are similar to or converge with corn cribs.

Center-Drive Combination Corn Crib / Granary

These increased in size and complexity...

Turreted Center-Drive combination corn crib / granary

...to rival small wooden grain elevators, the later versions featuring the characteristic rectangular cupola / headhouse.

[Ackley-Type] Combination Corn Crib / Granary

A unique, probably one-of-a-kind design created by a farmer who innovated during the Great Depression and WWII build-up in south-central Ohio.

Cylindrical Combination Corn Crib / Granary

These also increased in size and complexity to rival small round-bin grain elevators, usually featuring the characteristic square or rectangular cupola or headhouse and conical roofing over the bins.