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Wickfield Farm True-Round Show Barn (Silvers Show Barn)

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Silvers Show Barn
1917–1919, Alva Hunt. 2 miles east of Cantril on Iowa 2, on the south side of the highway
  • Wickfield Farm True-Round Show Barn (Silvers Show Barn) (David Gebhard and Gerald Mansheim)

One of the most exotic of Iowa's round barns is the Wickfield Farm True-Round Show Barn, built and designed by Alva Hunt. An unusual feature of the barn is its two layers of pedimented dormers that seemingly puncture its double-pitched roof here and there. The walls of the building, which is 50 feet in diameter, are terracotta hole tile, and the roof has wood shingles and a large metal ventilator at the peak. The barn was used by its original owner, Frank Silvers, as a sales pavilion for his Hampshire hog farm. The second floor is sectioned off into rooms that work around a central hall. The third floor was designed as a card room and parlor.

Writing Credits

Author: 
David Gebhard and Gerald Mansheim
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Citation

David Gebhard and Gerald Mansheim, "Wickfield Farm True-Round Show Barn (Silvers Show Barn)", [Cantril, Iowa], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/IA-01-SO029.

Print Source

Buildings of Iowa, David Gebhard and Gerald Mansheim. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993, 316-316.

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