Paulencu House

Paulencu House, completed in 1906, is a mud-plastered log building on a museum property

near Inglis. The provincial designation applies to the 1 1/2-storey building and its grounds.

Paulencu

House is the last known example of a traditional Romanian-style farmhouse from Manitoba's settlement

era. Its rectangular plan, vernacular design and log construction, brought from the Carpathian Mountain

region of Eastern Europe, adeptly blend a distinctive aesthetic with pragmatic functions that extend

beyond the need to provide sturdy, comfortable shelter. Beneath the high hipped roof is an attic smokehouse,

while the wide overhanging eaves, resourcefully supported by flared log brackets, shade and protect the

mud-plastered walls and also are equipped with poles from which to dry fresh produce. This fine pioneer

residence, built by John and Mary Paulencu from Voloca, Romania, who settled in Manitoba in 1901, was

once one of several similar dwellings on adjacent homesteads established by Romanian pioneers near the

hamlet of Lennard. Relocated within the district and restored, the house now stands on a functioning

church site as a highly visible symbol of its community's roots.

Source: Manitoba Heritage Council

Minutes, May 23, 1987

Key exterior elements that define the vernacular Romanian character of the Paulencu

House include:

- the 1 1/2-storey rectangular massing beneath a steeply pitched hip roof covered with

wooden shingles with wide eaves supported by exposed structural members

- the walls of round logs with

overlapping saddle-notch joins and upper logs that extend progressively outward to form brackets under

the eaves

- the mud plaster finish, smoothly applied and whitewashed

- the central entrance and simple

wraparound porch

- the orderly fenestration, including front and side square windows in light-coloured

frames, with wide wood surrounds painted a dark contrasting colour, and eyebrow dormers on the front

slope of the roof

- details such as the short brick chimney, the poles under the eaves for hanging produce

to dry, etc.

Key elements that define the dwelling's interior heritage character include:

- the

centre-entrance plan with rooms delineated by log partitions, including on the main floor a modest central

area between the larger 'great room' and kitchen, and rooms above accessed by a narrow stairway

-

the straightforward materials and finishes, including on the main floor plaster-covered walls, plank

flooring and wood ceilings, and on the upper level a large open bedroom with walls and ceiling of pressed

metal

- the unfinished upper smokehouse with exposed structural members and a pole-like fixture

- the

decorative elements in the 'great room,' including the icons placed according to tradition

along the east wall, the etched cross, decorative symbols and construction date on the central ceiling

beam, etc.

- the period artifacts and details, including the kitchen stove, handmade cabinets, plain

board window surrounds, exposed stovepipe, etc.