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Set in stone

Dick Schwab's barns are modern-day works of art made to look like pieces of history.

Story and photographs by Le Spearman

Dick Schwab built this round barnon his Iowa acreage in 1992. It is40 feet in diameter and features agothic church window cupola. The lower and first floors are 1,200 square feet each. It has six Gothic church windows (four windows in the cupola and two inthe basement workshop). The lower floor is cement; the first floor is wood. The ramp allows access to the first floor for vehicle storage.

Dick Schwab measures the heavybeam's height to be sure it's notbending from the weight of thestored wood.

Schwab works in his wood shopin the 1992 true round barn.

The scene is timeless: a cluster of five round barns capped with cedar shingles tucked against a background of timbered hills. Like a postcard from the past, each building reveals details and designs deeply rooted in agrarian architecture.

However, these barns are not a century old as one would expect. Each museum-quality structure is the handiwork of Dick Schwab. An entrepreneur, artisan, and self-taught builder, Schwab has constructed five versions of round barns since 1989 on his acreage near Solon, Iowa. A wooden, double-round barn and four styles of limestone barns are proud symbols of his accomplishments.

Schwab and his wife, Katherine, own 92 acres of timberland in the rolling hills -- ample space for Schwab to build barns. Retired in 2000 from his job at National Computer Systems, Schwab began his barn-building career as a hobby on weekends and in the evenings.

He started by constructing a square wooden barn in 1985, another square barn in 1986, and a Dutch-style gambrel in 1987.

In 1989, he constructed a wooden, double-round barn that has 18 sides with two side sections that stretch 24 feet in length, giving the structure its unusual shape. "I'm sure it is not unique in the world, but I have not seen anything like it," he says.