Friesen Interpretive Centre

• the long narrow lot set perpendicular to

the village street, Road 1 West, in Neubergthal

• the housebarn at right angles to the street, with the

living quarters at the front and the barn at the west end

Key elements that define the building as a model Mennonite housebarn include:

• the combined linear structure, with dwelling and barn joined end-to-end

by an interior hallway or `gang' with doors that separate the living quarters from the barn

• the

long, broad rectangular form, 1½ storeys high, with the barn slightly higher and, on the north side, approximately three metres wider than the house

• the steeply pitched gable roofs, with a shed-roofed

section on the barn's north side

• the basic construction methods and materials, including the wood-frame

house, timber-frame barn, exterior walls of painted horizontal wood siding on both, cedar shingles, etc.

- the number, orderly placement and variety of rectangular-shaped windows and doors on all elevations

- the minimal ornamentation outside and in Key elements that define the heritage character of the east-end residence include:

• the large north and south dormers
• the verandah with plainly carved wooden posts

and delicate arched fretwork

• the openings, including the main-floor double-hung sash windows with wooden

shutters, symmetrically placed on three elevations, and the north-side Dutch door

• the main-floor plan

with four large rooms that revolve around a large brick stove

• the three upper-level bedrooms accessed

by a narrow enclosed staircase

• the variety of unpretentious materials, including the mud-and-horse-manure

plaster mixture on the perimeter walls, thick mud-brick partition walls, horizontal wood siding and vertical wainscotting, board ceilings and floating plank floors laid on hard-packed clay

• modest features and

decorative finishes such as the exterior siding painted white with contrasting trim, the stencilled interior floor boards, built-in pantry cupboards and living room china cabinet or 'glauss shaup', etc.

Key elements that define the heritage character of the west-end barn include:

• the south elevation with

its two large doors near the southwest corner, a third door and a set of ribbon windows; also, a north-side

Dutch door and rectangular-shaped windows on three elevations

• the exterior siding painted red with

contrasting trim

• the large interior space, including a loft and main floor, threshing/storage area

or 'sheen' and the 'oswesied' used for grain storage and raising poultry

• the exposed

post-and-beam interior framework, with mortise-and-tenon joinery and wooden pegs securing all major joints, and the plank floors