Braun Mennonite Log House

The Braun

Mennonite Log House is a one-storey log house, since 1974 standing as part of the Pembina Threshermen's

Museum, located on the south side of Highway 3 between Morden and Winkler in the R.M. of Stanley. It

is part of a collection that includes seven other historic buildings from the area. The municipal designation

applies to the building and its footprint.

The Braun Mennonite Log House (1885) is valued as an example of a Mennonite housebarn

(the barn portion does not survive) from the early establishment period, shortly after the arrival of

the railway. These structures represent a very old European vernacular tradition, modified by Mennonite

settlers to suit the conditions they found in Russia and later in Manitoba. These buildings made the

most of the available materials to meet the needs of new settlers, and, though utilitarian, have an elegance

that stems from simplicity and good craftsmanship. Like many pioneer houses, the building saw later service

as a granary when increasing prosperity allowed the owners to build a frame house. Numbers on the corners

of the logs allowed for the building to be rebuilt after a move. Originally located in the Burwalde area,

the house retains much of its original exterior and interior appearance, including the plan, windows

and interior division.

Source: R.M. of Stanley By-law No. 8-09, 6 August 2009.

Key elements

that define the exterior heritage character of the Braun Mennonite Log House include:

- the dovetailed

log construction with vertical wood cladding in the gable ends

- the basic asymmetrical massing, consisting

of a simple rectangular plan with openings: three windows on the front (east) facade, with the main

door set in the third bay (to the left of the rightmost window); two windows near the end of the south

side; two windows set near the ends of the rear (west) facade, with a second door approximately opposite

the main door; a door near the centre of the north side, which originally connected to the barn portion

of the building

- the single storey with medium-pitched gable roof clad in cedar shingles, with the decoratively-carved

ends of the ceiling joists set into and projecting past the top log under the eaves

- the double-hung

wood sash windows with simple glazing bars, casings and wood sills, and simple operable wood shutters

Key

elements that define the house¿s interior include:

- the plan consisting of the principle living room

at the north end and two smaller bedrooms at the south end

- the heavy timber ceiling joists

- the interior

walls of thick planks open at joist level

- the unpainted wood window mouldings