Description of Historic Place

The Braun
Mennonite Log House is a one-storey log house, since 1974 standing as part of the Pembina Threshermen's
Museum, located on the south side of Highway 3 between Morden and Winkler in the R.M. of Stanley. It
is part of a collection that includes seven other historic buildings from the area. The municipal designation
applies to the building and its footprint.

Heritage Value

The Braun Mennonite Log House (1885) is valued as an example of a Mennonite housebarn
(the barn portion does not survive) from the early establishment period, shortly after the arrival of
the railway. These structures represent a very old European vernacular tradition, modified by Mennonite
settlers to suit the conditions they found in Russia and later in Manitoba. These buildings made the
most of the available materials to meet the needs of new settlers, and, though utilitarian, have an elegance
that stems from simplicity and good craftsmanship. Like many pioneer houses, the building saw later service
as a granary when increasing prosperity allowed the owners to build a frame house. Numbers on the corners
of the logs allowed for the building to be rebuilt after a move. Originally located in the Burwalde area,
the house retains much of its original exterior and interior appearance, including the plan, windows
and interior division.

Source: R.M. of Stanley By-law No. 8-09, 6 August 2009.

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements
that define the exterior heritage character of the Braun Mennonite Log House include:
- the dovetailed
log construction with vertical wood cladding in the gable ends
- the basic asymmetrical massing, consisting
of a simple rectangular plan with openings: three windows on the front (east) facade, with the main
door set in the third bay (to the left of the rightmost window); two windows near the end of the south
side; two windows set near the ends of the rear (west) facade, with a second door approximately opposite
the main door; a door near the centre of the north side, which originally connected to the barn portion
of the building
- the single storey with medium-pitched gable roof clad in cedar shingles, with the decoratively-carved
ends of the ceiling joists set into and projecting past the top log under the eaves
- the double-hung
wood sash windows with simple glazing bars, casings and wood sills, and simple operable wood shutters

Key
elements that define the house¿s interior include:
- the plan consisting of the principle living room
at the north end and two smaller bedrooms at the south end
- the heavy timber ceiling joists
- the interior
walls of thick planks open at joist level
- the unpainted wood window mouldings