by Susan Griffith

A couple of "barntroopers" descended upon Case Western Reserve University's historic horse barn at Valley Ridge Farm in Hunting Valley over the past two weeks to give it some new supports.

photo by Susan Griffith

CWRU farm director Ana Locci put the University's name on the waiting list at Steepleton Construction Co., a leader in barn restoration. Eighteen months later Carl Steepleton and Jim Mehl, co-owners of the Alliance, Ohio, based firm, arrived at the farm, nestled in the hills between Cedar and Chagrin River Roads and Fairmount Boulevard.

Steepleton said the "hybrid" barn was like nothing he had every seen in the more than 1,000 barns he has worked on since the 1960s.

"I was shocked the first time I saw this barn," he said. "I didn't know a structure like this existed."

Steepleton and Mehl both were amazed by the barn's construction and mechanical systems that were technologically advanced for its time. The barn was built by Cleveland financier and philanthropist Jeptha Homer Wade II in 1908-1909.

Mark McGee, the farm's foreman who lived across the drive from the barn for 18 years, has heard the farm described as "a fine-tuned racing car where every part is dependent upon the other parts."

The old barn is in good hands as Steepleton and Mehl are known as masters at restoring old barns in a tri-state area that includes Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. They have worked on some of Ohio's oldest barns that date to the early 1800s and on covered bridges like the Teegarden-Centennial Covered Bridge over the Middle Fork River in Salem Township.

Of the original 455 acres of Valley Ridge Farm, adjacent to CWRU's Squire Valleevue Farm, the Wade family donated 104 acres to CWRU in 1977. The farm has horse and dairy barns, dovecote and pig house-all designed by the Cleveland architectural firm of Hubbell and Benes, who also were the architects for the Cleveland Museum of Art.

The buildings, painted in yellow with green trim at the foot of the hills along the Chagrin River, emanate the charm of a New England homestead. The pig house was converted into a ceramic studio during 1999-2000 for students taking a summer Raku course thanks to the generous support of Helen Cole.

The two-story, horseshoe-shaped, wooden structure of the horse barn primarily has been vacant since the 1960s except for a few pieces of farm equipment stored there. Over the years, it aged and needed some work on its roof, walls and support structure.

photo by Susan Griffith

In the horse barn, Steepleton replaced damaged Douglas fir beams more than 5-by-15 inches wide, with lengths up to 22 feet. They were specially cut to fit damaged sections.

What also sets the barn's construction apart from others, Mehl said, is its two-layered siding of an exterior wall covered with an interior wall of two-inch tongue-and-groove flat-planed boards.

He added that the barn also is so well constructed that it has no knee braces or diagonal bracings but is fitted with cast iron mechanical fixtures that support the walls and framing of the 11,290 square-foot building.

The barn includes a lower floor area for storing farm equipment, a carriage room, six horse stalls and three working rooms. The second floor has the hayloft with two small lofts in the side wings as well as seven rooms where hired hands once resided.

The Steepleton crew makes it clear that they are restorers and not repairmen, because they looked at the old building and replaced damaged timbers with the same materials originally used when a structure was built. The only difference from the original construction will be treated wood along the foundation that is water resistant.

Locci is pleased with the detailed restoration and hopes to see the horse barn and the farm's other structures placed on the national register of historic buildings.

Detailed drawings of the farm's buildings—as well as some of Wade's detailed records and diaries of what was grown on the farm—are at the Western Reserve Historical Society. Most of the historical building blueprints and some of the historical records were made available to the farm administration thanks to University Architect Steve Rajki and his wife, Joyce.

When built, Valley Ridge Farm was considered a gentleman's farm, Locci said. It produced food that supported the Wade family's staff of 67 employees who took care of the farm and the family's home in Cleveland.

Fond memories of summer days spent playing in the barn's hayloft on her grandfather's farm inspired Ellen Chinn to donate two generous gifts over the past couple of years to restore the barn to its original state.

The restoration of the horse barn is a multi-phased project. So far, the barn has received a new roof and a new retaining wall and a drainage system that prevents runoffs from the surrounding hills from further damaging the wooden siding. While the current project includes interior work, future projects will focus on restoring and painting the exterior walls and cupolas.

Many guests have visited the farm over the past months to stand in various parts of the barn. Locci listens as she hears them envision a future for the barn that might include a summer theater, conference center, a farm visitors' center, student gatherings, writers' workshops, receptions and more-all where the hay once was baled and stacked to meet the rafters.

"The idea is to preserve such a wonderful structure and then find uses for it," Locci said.

The barn is a short walk through the woods from the main buildings at the Squire Valleevue Farm.

In other Valley Ridge buildings, the art studio program in the department of art history and art education, the Office of Continuing Education and the Cleveland Institute of Art sculpture utilize spaces for Raku, outdoor painting and outdoor sculpture classes.

To learn more about CWRU's farms, visit http://www.cwru.edu/farm/index.html.

 

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