Dennis Otte Round Barn, Eleroy Illinois

Date added: April 30, 2023
Looking southwest (1983)

The barn was built by Herman Altenbern in 1930 for Carl Richards whose father had a round barn constructed earlier.

This is a 54-foot round barn on a poured concrete foundation with horizontal wooden siding. The main entrance faces due east at grade and opens to a central passage dividing the barn bilaterally. Stalls arranged in a semi-circle on each side of the passage are separated by some hewn and some sawed posts which support a concentric loft plate on a radius of about 27 feet. Animals enter from the west. The loft is floored with materials previously used, perhaps as barn siding. The barn has a single-hip roof supported by a brace of a 2-inch by 6-inch member nailed on one side of each rafter about four feet above the roof hip and to the opposite side of the same rafter about four feet below the roof hip. A squat cupola caps the roof of wooden shingles.

The design and materials of the barn are original.

Dennis Otte Round Barn, Eleroy Illinois Looking southwest (1983)
Looking southwest (1983)

Dennis Otte Round Barn, Eleroy Illinois Looking southwest (1983)
Looking southwest (1983)

Dennis Otte Round Barn, Eleroy Illinois Loft looking northeast (1983)
Loft looking northeast (1983)

Dennis Otte Round Barn, Eleroy Illinois Stall, looking northwest at East entrance (1983)
Stall, looking northwest at East entrance (1983)

Dennis Otte Round Barn, Eleroy Illinois Roof (1983)
Roof (1983)