Description of Historic Place

Building 16, also known as the Implement and Seed Storage, is a Research Farm building located at Nappan Experimental Farm. It is a low, rectangular, wood-frame building with a banked foundation and entrances on the main and basement level. It is clad in clapboard siding and has a steeply pitched gable roof with gable dormers. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.

Heritage Value

Building 16 is a Recognized Federal Heritage Building because of its historical associations, and its architectural and environmental value.

Historical Value
Building 16 strongly illustrates the role of Canada’s Experimental Farm System in agricultural research and experimentation from the late 19th century to the late 20th century. Nappan Experimental Farm, established in 1887, was one of five farms in the system. Building 16 was constructed in 1892 as a combined workshop and storage facility for crop research. Building 16 was used almost exclusively to support the development, cataloguing, storage and distribution of seed samples for Atlantic Canada.

Architectural Value
Building 16 is a good example of a 19th century barn designed to conceal its largely scientific function as a laboratory and storage area. Its steeply pitched gable roof, long eave line, low eaves, gable-roofed dormers, human scale, and connected functional units are all borrowed from the Quebec barn of the 18th and 19th centuries. The banked foundation, executed in concrete, with entrances on the main and basement levels reflects 19th century barn construction in Ontario and Nova Scotia. Its design conforms to the picturesque aesthetic chosen for all of the original farms of the Experimental Farm Branch of the federal Department of Agriculture.

Environmental Value
Building 16 is compatible with the present character of the agricultural farm setting at the Nappan Experimental Farm. It is a well-known building and dominates its visual landscape.

Sources: Michel Pelletier, Research Farm Building #16 (Implement and Seed Storage), Nappan Experimental Farm, Nappan, Nova Scotia, Federal Heritage Building Review Office Building Report 00-017; Research Farm Building #16, Nappan Experimental Farm, Nappan, Nova Scotia, Heritage Character Statement, 00-017.

Character-Defining Elements

The following character-defining elements of Building 16 should be respected.

Its picturesque aesthetic and functional features drawn from 19th century barn construction traditions, for example:
- the steeply pitched gable roof with long eave line, low eaves, gable-roofed dormers, and a banked foundation with entrances on two levels;
- the small scale of the building, the low, shingled, gable roof, and the small windows and clapboard siding;
- the milled and hand-hewn timbers in the framing of the building.

The manner in which Building 16 is compatible with the character of its agricultural farm setting and is a well-known landmark in the area, as evidenced by:
- its scale, picturesque barn design, and construction material, which harmonize with the 19th century Main Barn;
- its location where it frames the historic and physical core of the farm;
- its high visibility and specialized role which make it well-known within the landscape.