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Secrest Round Barn

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1883, George Frank Longerbeam. US 6, southeast of Iowa City; turn left (east) one block southeast of Scott Blvd. intersection, travel 5 miles; turn right (south), travel 1 mile; turn left (east), .8 miles; barn is within grove of trees on north side of road, west of small community of Downey
  • Secrest Round Barn (David Gebhard and Gerald Mansheim)
  • (Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress)

This octagonal barn, 80 feet in diameter, is of the basement type. The barn is covered by a gracefully shaped bell-form roof, and at its crown is a small venting cupola with its own miniature bell-shaped roof. At the time the barn was built, the editors of a local newspaper commented that “it will be the largest building of its kind in the county,” containing “stable room for thirty-two horses and sixteen cows, room for two hundred tons of hay, and furnished with all the modern improvements.” 38

Notes

Lowell J. Soike, Without Right Angles: The Round Barns of Iowa, 20.

Writing Credits

Author: 
David Gebhard and Gerald Mansheim
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Data

What's Nearby

Herbert Hoover National Historic Site
Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum Building
Friends Meetinghouse
Birthplace Cottage
Blacksmith Shop

Citation

David Gebhard and Gerald Mansheim, "Secrest Round Barn", [West Liberty, Iowa], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/IA-01-CE323.

Print Source

Buildings of Iowa, David Gebhard and Gerald Mansheim. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993, 266-266.

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