Cornish Griffin Round Barn - Keeler Barn, Pleasant Lake Indiana

Date added: April 23, 2023 Categories: Indiana Barn Round Barn

The original owner of the barn was Cornish Griffin who also built the magnificent structure. He purchased the hollow glazed Clay tile for the walls and silo and mixed the concrete on site that was used for the mortar and for the lintels of the door and window openings. To add further distinction to his unique barn, Griffin inscribed his name in the concrete lintel over the south door and stamped a maple leaf pattern in the center of each window lintel. The lower level of the great structure was laid out in a carefully devised set of pens around the large glazed tile central silo. The upper level was for the storage of hay and straw and the entire area from the west edge of the south door to the north edge of the east door was left open to the upper level, allowing for the free and efficient movement of equipment and access to the hay mow.

Griffin, who had built an earlier frame house on the property (the house was built in 1903) along with a chicken coop, owned the property for numerous years. After Mr. Griffin's death, the farm passed out of the family to Don Johnson who owned it for a number of years before selling it to the Swinage family. The Swinage family eventually sold it to Nancy Brady and then in 1986 to Cary Keeler,, Mr. Keeler does an excellent job of maintaining the structure. Although the primary use for the barn today is storage, Mr. Keeler does have horses that are housed in the barn during the colder months of the year. The silo is no longer used but is in good condition and the upper level still contains hay and straw in addition to other items.

The most dramatic point of significance for the Cornish Griffin Round Barn is the fact that it is the only Indiana example that was constructed of hollow glazed clay tile. Although these tile barns are quite prominent in Iowa, according to Lowell Soike in Without Right les, the trend in Indiana was for wood barns. Of the 219 round and polygonal structures in the state, only eight were constructed of materials other than wood. There were three poured concrete barns built; one in Greene County (Jefferson Township, extant), one in LaGrange County (Newbury Township, extant) and one in Sullivan County (Turman Township, razed). There were also three concrete block barns built with only one remaining in Boone County's Center Township. The other two examples, both razed, were located in Greene County (Jefferson Township and Howard County (Harrison Township). Finally, aside from the Cornish Griffin tile barn, the only other material besides wood was the brick barn built in Fountain County's Richland Township, which unfortunately, was torn down in 1989.

In Indiana, 219 round and polygonal barns were constructed between the years of 1850 and 1936 and of these 151 were true circles. Of these 151 examples, only 77 remain and the Cornish Griffin Round Barn is one of them. More importantly though, the Griffin Barn is the only example in the state that was constructed of hollow glazed clay tile and distinguishes itself by its materials and the decorative qualities of the concrete lintels and contracting clay tile window surrounds. The barn has all of the essential physical characteristics that it possessed at the time of its period of significance, c.1915 to the mid-1930s.

Barn Description

The Cornish Griffin Round Barn, constructed sometime between 1910 and 1920, is the only round barn in Indiana that is constructed of hollow glazed tile. Built by Cornish Griffin, this sixty-foot diameter round barn is located in rural Steuben County just southwest of Angola, Indiana. The site is rather picturesque with a frame farmhouse on the east with a shed behind, all of which are separated from the round barn by a north-south gravel drive. The barn and house are surrounded by mature trees and there are pastures to the west and north and a large lawn and garden to the south between the barn and the road.

The unique barn is topped by a two-pitch gambrel roof that is crowned by a glazed tile silo that penetrates the roof to form a cupola. The silo/cupola is sheltered by a two-pitch gambrel and there is a small dormer with a four-light window on the east side of the silo/cupola's roof. The silo/cupola is constructed of glazed tile in a dark golden brown color and it contains four rectangular openings, one at each of the compass points. These openings are accentuated by tan glazed tiles that form a diamond pattern around the window outline. The glazed tile walls rest firmly on the poured concrete foundation.

The roof surfaces are covered in wood shingles, a treatment original to the barn. There is a slight overhang to the eaves which reveals the exposed rafters in the soffit region. The wall surfaces are comprised of hollow glazed tile with concrete lintels over the door and window openings.

The main or south facade is characterized by large one-and-one-half-story doors made of vertical wood planks that slide on overhead tracks. There is a large concrete lintel over the doors on which the name GRIFFIN is inscribed in the surface. There is another large doorway on the east that is identical except for the inscription in the concrete lintel. Finally, a smaller human-sized doorway completes the lower level entrances, this one located on the west and composed of wood planks similar to its larger neighbors. Between the south and east doors are two, evenly spaced four-light windows with concrete lintels. The lintels are stamped with a circular medallion that contains a maple leaf and is typical of all of the window openings. Between the east and west doors are four evenly spaced four-light windows and finally, between the west and south doors are three more evenly spaced four-light units. There is one upper-level opening, a window opening without sash facing the west.

The interior of the structure is also very interesting with the glazed tile walls extending up one and one-half stories and the centralized silo standing as a great support for the roof above. The lower level is divided into several pen areas to facilitate the storage and handling of animals. Inside the south doors the area on the southeast, from the west edge of the south doors to the north edge of the east doors, is open to the upper level, emphasizing the grandeur of the space. Around to the north, underneath the internally radiating floor joists of the upper level, is a large open area that is broken only by the line of four columns that support a laminated beam above. These columns, placed about six feet from the silo's walls, support the laminated beam that offers intermediate bracing of the large floor joists. Along the same column line, a section of wall runs from roughly the north to the west complimented by wall sections that return to the exterior walls to form a pen in the northwest quadrant of the barn. This is followed by fencing sections that create another pen between the northwest and the south doors. Finally, there are gates on the west side, lining up with the west door and immediately inside of the south doors. The overall effect is an efficiently arranged central feeding alley with pen space around the perimeter that is well-lit by the numerous window and door openings.

The upper level, found in the area from the north edge of the east doors around to the west edge of the south doors and comprising approximately two-thirds of the circle, is an open area for the storage of hay and straw. The central silo aids in supporting the large roof structure with the inwardly radiating roof trusses braced at the center by a laminated beam that is tied to the silo. Unlike some other examples and because of the silo's support, there is no laminated beam at the juncture of the two roof pitches. The intermediate support network is comprised of a series of 2" x 10" pieces that extend from the lower portion of the upper pitch to about midway on the lower roof section. The lower section then transfers the load to the extremely durable and strong exterior walls. Finally, there is a series of ladder rungs attached to the silo's face on the east side that facilitates access to the upper reaches of the barn.

The Cornish Griffin Round Barn of Steuben County, Indiana, is one of a kind in the state. It has been extremely well-preserved and closely resembles what life on the farm was like at the turn of the century.