Set in stone
Dick Schwab's barns are modern-day works of art made to look like pieces of history.
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.
on his Iowa acreage in 1992. It is
40 feet in diameter and features a
gothic 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 in
the basement workshop). The lower floor is cement; the first floor is wood. The ramp allows access to the first floor for vehicle storage.
beam's height to be sure it's not
bending from the weight of the
stored wood.
in the 1992 true round barn.
Schwab jokingly explains his desire to build barns. "It's called Schwab's Rule of Stuff that says you always have 10% more stuff than you have space to store it. You build a barn to store the stuff, and six months later you have 10% more stuff than space, so you build another barn."
He studies old barns and barn books to gain insight and knowledge on construction techniques used by early barn builders, and to select design details to incorporate into the barns he builds. "I love looking at barns," says Schwab, "particularly round barns."
All of his barns have been built with recycled wood or wood that he cut and seasoned on his land. He does buy cedar shingles for roofing because the local cedar wood does not last as long as commercial shingles. Schwab owns a Wood-Mizer sawmill to saw native trees on site, and he uses the barns to store the processed lumber.
the 1997 12-sided barn. This
barn is used for wood storage
and sawmill storage.
Schwab has used limestone for his most recent barns and for good reason. "I had to repaint my wooden barns within three years after I built them. I like limestone because it is maintenance-free and beautiful."
Schwab mastered the art of cutting and installing limestone slab walls when he built his true round barn in 1992. "I did some reading, did some talking-to-persons research, and then got some hands-on training," he says. "I have a good friend who is an excellent stone mason, and he came out and helped me lay the first courses on the 1992 barn."
Jerome Schwab, Schwab's father, helped Schwab build the 1992 barn. "Dad turned into a great partner in this whole thing," says Schwab. "He found the Gothic church windows, pounded a lot of nails, and was there when I dug the round footing trench by hand in hard Iowa clay."
Jerome Schwab died in 2000, and Schwab cherishes the time he and his father spent together building all the barns until his death. The Gothic church windows were used in the copula and downstairs workshop of the 1992 barn. The workshop contains tools that once belonged to both Schwab's father and grandfather.
Working on each barn provides a learning curve for Schwab, who enjoys the challenge of improving or creating building techniques. He is a master of multitasking and moves seamlessly from one project to another, interweaving tasks and work into finished goals.
After digging the footing trench for the 1992 barn, Schwab decided to duplicate the floating concrete slab method used to construct grain elevators for his other limestone barns.
The limestone barns he built in 1997, 2002, and 2003 are each constructed on a concrete slab supported by concrete footings and reinforced with heavy rebar.
and is 1,850 square feet. It was
built in 1989 and is used for
vehicle and wood storage.
These three barns are classed as round barns, but each offers a variation in design.
-- The 1997 barn is a 12-sided structure (dodecagon) that has a 12-sided cupola.
-- His 2002 barn has a true round base with a 16-sided roof and interior and a bell-shaped roof.
-- The small 2003 barn, dubbed The Privy, is an octagon. It has an entry hall, two restrooms, and a utility room with a 425-gallon water tank.
Each limestone barn has interior drywalls and is painted white, except for The Privy, which has interior walls paneled with cedar siding.
Except for The Privy, the roof for each limestone barn is supported by a series of hand-curved, laminated rafters. Schwab designed a unique and most ingenious -- but actually quite simple -- method to construct the vital curved supports.
"What you basically do is build the walls of the barn and use the inside of the walls to build a jig to form the shape of the rafter." The curve of the wall gives the correct curve for the rafter.
Cranes were used to lift the finished rafters, which weighed more than 700 pounds, into place for the 1997 and 2002 barns. Each rafter is attached to and supported by a round wooden thrust ring installed at the apex of the barn's ceiling.
and has a true round base. It
features a 16-sided, bell-shaped
roof and interior with 16 hand-
formed rafters. The barn is 72 feet
in diameter. The ground floor is
4,000 square feet with a 1,000-
square-foot loft, The barn is used
for wood and vehicle storage and
to host parties.
cutting and installing limestone
slab walls. He has cut about 121
tons of limestone for the four
limestone barns he has built.
Party barn
Schwab uses the spacious 2002 barn as his party barn. Funds from events scheduled in this barn are used to support some of his favorite charities. A dance club rented the barn for one night of ballroom dancing. Over 300 people attended the event that raised $4,200 for Iowa City Hospice. "It turned out to be a wonderful dance," says Schwab. "They had a 14-piece band, and the acoustics were wonderful!"
Schwab says that he needs only to add one item to his round barns -- a guest book for visitors to sign. "I have met some wonderful people through this," he says.
If you would like to learn more about Dick Schwab's stone barns, write to him at 2501 Sugar Bottom Road, NE, Solon, IA 52333; phone him at 319/624-8096; or send him an e-mail at dschwab@avalon.net.