Fachwerk Architecture
When we purchased our property more than 20 years ago, we had no idea of the architectural gem we were acquiring. Call it unobserved naivety on our part, but we lived here several months before noticing bricks and timber-framing beneath the white siding covering one of our barns.
Because May is Historic Preservation Month, it’s important to pay tribute to this barn and its noteworthy architectural style known as fachwerk.
Fachwerk, or framework, is the German name for timber-frame architecture found throughout Europe, particularly in areas where timber was in short supply. Builders used hewed-lumber for the skeletal framework and then filled in the remainder of the wall with burned or dried brick.
According to William Tischler, in his article Fachwerk Construction in the German Settlements of Wisconsin¹, fachwerk was popular among German Lutherans who emigrated during the 1800’s from Germany’s northern areas of Brandenburg and Pomerania and then settled in Dodge, Jefferson, Washington and Osaukee Counties of Wisconsin. They built houses, threshing barns, stables, woodsheds, granaries and even churches in the fachwerk style of construction.
Our fachwerk barn fits into this era. Several years ago, a man passing by noticed our barn and stopped to chat. Interestingly, he worked at Old World Wisconsin, an outdoor museum dedicated to rural life, and was familiar with the historical construction of Wisconsin barns. Based on the angles and structure of the beams, this gentleman estimated our barn to be built before 1850.
So how cool is that! The barn my husband regularly uses as a workshop and the building we occasionally enjoy as a party barn is over a 150-years-old. My husband tuckpoints. He replaces rotted beams. He keeps a good roof overhead. But like all old buildings, repair and restoration is a way of life with this old barn.
Today, fachwerk buildings are few and far between. Many are covered with siding, as ours once was. Many more have fallen into disrepair and are lost forever. Our goal, for as long as we can, is to preserve our fachwerk barn and the heritage it represents.
¹ Winterthur Portfolio, Vol. 21, No. 4 (Winter, 1986), pp. 275-292
June 22nd, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Thank you for your post on your fachwerk barn.
I am an photographer currently working on a photo project documenting fachwerk barns and houses in Wisconsin. If possible, I would like to come out and photograph your barn sometime.
If that is ok with you, please email me your contact information (daniel.seurer@oracle.com), or call me on my cell phone. I live in the Lake Mills Wisconsin area.
Thank you.