Gable-on-Hip.  A gable-roofed structure with shed or lean-tos on all four sides.

 

Frazer Farm Barn, San Juan Island.  With its distinctive plan of a central hay mow surrounded on three sides by sheds, the Frazer Farm Barn was specifically designed as a sheep barn.  Oriented east-west, the central, gable-roofed 26′ high hay mow is 19′ wide by 24′ feet long, with 16’6″ sheds to the north and south and a 16′ shed to the east.  Milled lumber posts and beams support the central structure as well as the side walls and roof.  The farm complex also includes a house, granary, and machine shed.

 

 

Guilford Farm Barn, Orcas Island.  This large, 58′ wide by 78′ long barn originally started life as a dairy barn, with a center drive probably flanked by a hay mow and a threshing floor.  It has timber frame construction, and consists of 4 bays that are surrounded by sheds that form the gable-on-hip roof.  The central gable, which is 20′ wide by 45′ long, is 24′ high.  A concrete-block milk house was added later to the southwest corner.  This barn has been repurposed several times, first as the national headquarters of an optical production company and later as a residence and studio.

 

King Barn, San Juan Island.  The King barn, oriented on a north-south axis, is located on pastureland near a marsh in the northern interior of San Juan Island.  The structure, which has a large metal gable roof with sheds on the northeast, southeast, and south sides, is 98′ long (plus the 16’6”-wide shed to the northeast and the 17’-wide  shed to the south) and 56’3” wide (plus another 14’ for the southeast shed).  The main part of the post-and-beam, center-drive barn consists of seven bays that enclose a 33-foot-high hay mow, serviced by a hay rail and trolley system.  Three large metal ventilators are located on top of the roof.  The south shed, probably added in 1934 (as suggested by an inscription in the concrete floor), shelters a milking parlor with an estimated ten stanchions, complete with a concrete floor, manger, manure gutter, and walkways, as well as an indoor creamery in the southwest corner.  The other sheds were used for stables.

 

Lawson Farm Barn, San Juan Island.  Although not completely surrounded by hips, the Lawson Barn has sheds on three sides that form a distinctive ‘gable-on-hip’ roof type.  Oriented east-west and built into the slope so as to take advantage of the embankment to form different floor levels, the main hay mow under the gable is 30′ wide by 52′ long, and 36′ high.  It has a ventilator as well as a wood rail with steel hay trolley, a rare example of a central hay system (i.e., without a hay door and hood) in the islands.  Each of the sheds is 20′ wide, with the west one being whitewashed and containing 10 stanchions for milk cows.  The farm was purchased by Alfred Lawson in 1909, and he and his wife Esther quitclaimed it to their son Gilbert in 1941.

 

Rouleau Dairy Barn, San Juan Island.  Oriented east-west, this 1912 dairy barn features a central 32’6″ wide by 52’6″ long, 32’6″ high four-bay hay mow with sheds on the east, south, and west.  The east shed, which is 14′ wide, has stanchions with mangers and a manure gutter.  The mow is accessed by a drive on the west side.  There is a newer 28′ wide by 36′ long shed addition on the north side.  The Rouleau Dairy used to have a granary and root house near the barn, which burned down in a lightning storm in the late 1990s.  The root house still exists, as does the milk house, which has (rare for the islands) square-notch hewn logs on top of 3′ concrete stem walls.

 

 

Straitsview Farm Barn, San Juan Island.  Built by Peter Lawson in 1863, the barn at Straitsview Farm is a English plan (central drive) gable roofed hay mow with sheds on all four sides.  Among the associated farm buildings are a granary and a machine shed.  Oriented slightly off east-west, the central space is 30′ wide by 60′ long and 26′ high; the sheds on the west and south sides are 24′ wide; the one on the east is 18′ and the one on the north 14′.  Given the orientation of the structure and the fact that he prevailing winds come off the Straits, the barn was probably positioned to take advantage of funneling the breeze into the center drive to winnow grain on a threshing floor.

 

 

John Sweeney Farm, San Juan Valley, San Juan Island.  Originally homesteaded by John Archambault, the property was purchased by John Sweeney in 1890.  Sweeney built the original barn, but after William Buchanan purchased the place in 1918, he raised the wooden timber frame structure onto its current masonry ground floor.  The hay mow is accessed by means of a dirt and stone ramp (with an old buried tractor!) that leads to the center drive.  The gable-on-hip structure measures 75′ wide by 110′ long and is 35′ high.  In addition to the hay mow on the second floor, the lower floor was used for milking cattle–complete with stanchions and a manure gutter–as well as stalls and some machine storage.  It is listed on the Washington Heritage Barn Register.

 

Harry Towell Farm Barn, Lopez Island.  The two shed-roofed wings in an “L” shape plan are the remaining portions of a gable-on-hip-roofed barn built by Harry Towell, who farmed an 80-acre homestead starting in the early 1890s.  The two wings measure 20′ wide by 79’6″ long north-south and 20′ wide by 30’2″ long east-west; both are 17′ high.  The north-south wing has stanchions, mangers, and a manure gutter; the east-west wing has the remains of stalls.  On the property are also a chicken coop, milk house, and granary.

 

 

Wooden Shoe Farm Old (1890s) Barn, San Juan Valley, San Juan Island.  This barn may have been built by John P. Doyle in the 1890s as part of his farm operations.  After passing through several hands, the farm was bought by Fred Zylstra in the early 1960s and renamed Wooden Shoe Farm.  The barn, which was mainly used for hay storage, features a central hay mow with sheds on three sides.  It measures 67’2″ by 64’4″ and is 31′ high at the ridge.