Forder Barn

The Forder Barn (1914) is a large wood-frame dairy barn with a gambrel roof. It stands

on a farm lot west of the Village of Pipestone in western Manitoba, and is still used for agricultural

purposes. The heritage designation refers to the building on its footprint.

The Forder Barn

is a rare surviving building recalling the growing commercial dairy industry in early-twentieth century

Manitoba. The barn is also an important example suggesting the architectural and construction approaches

used in this important rural building type. The long, gambrel-roofed barn with a full-length shed along

the north side recalls the era when the massive winter fodder requirements of increasingly-large dairy

herds were leading to the replacement of gable roofs with the more space-efficient gambrel roof that

provides a very large, open space for hay storage - also reflected in the hay hoods with hay doors beneath

them in both roof peaks. During this era, before near-total mechanization rendered such barns obsolete,

agricultural engineers were providing information about "scientific" improvements that are

reflected in the Forder Barn¿s long, narrow shape, its row of small windows, and the lighter wood-framing

techniques that had replaced large timbers in barn construction.

Source: R.M. of Pipestone By¿Law

No. 2014-08, 8 May 2014.

Key elements that define the site character of the Forder Barn include:

- its setting

as the largest building, oriented east-west in a relatively-open farmyard with some subsidiary structures

Key elements that define the Forder Barn's exterior character include:

- the long, narrow plan

with a lean-to along the north side

- the tall, gambrel-roofed profile, with the loft area about 1.5

times the height of the vertical walls

- the hay hoods in each peak, with hay doors beneath

- the large

sliding doors in the centre of each end

- the small, vertical, nearly-square, four-paned wood-framed

windows: one on each side of each hay door to light the loft; a few in each end, and a row of 29, unevenly-spaced,

in the long south wall

- the drop siding; the red overall paint with white trim

Key interior elements

that define the interior heritage character include:

- the large loft space, its length divided roughly

into two by a wood partition; the truss support system

- on the ground floor, the interior divisions

forming a long aisle with stalls on either side, constructed of large timbers and wide boards