Description of Historic Place

The Stud-Horse Barn is a T-shaped one-storey building. It has a medium-pitch gabled roof featuring a large cupola on the main section. The roof is sheathed with milled cedar shingles. The building’s colour scheme, (barn red walls and white trim), continues a tradition across the Prairies and matches other buildings on the site. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.

Heritage Value

The Stud-Horse Barn is a Classified Federal Heritage Building because of its historical associations, and its architectural and environmental values:

Historical value:
The Stud-Horse Barn is an excellent example of the national theme of ranching in Alberta, and its importance in the development of Canada. The structure is a component of the Bar U Ranch. The barn is also associated with Patrick Burns, who purchased the Bar U Ranch in 1927 to add to his vast cattle empire. Burns who is recognised as the kingpin of the meat processing industry in western Canada during the mid-1920s, has been designated a person of national significance. The Stud-Horse Barn is associated with the Percheron horse breeding program lead by George Lane, a prominent Alberta cattleman who was hired at Bar U in 1884 to serve as the ranch foreman and who ran the ranch between 1902 and 1925. The building is a conspicuous component of the Percheron area, located in an open field on the eastern perimeter of the ranch site.

Architectural value:
The Stud-Horse Barn is a very good example of the agricultural building style used at ranches on the prairies. Its value lies in its excellent functional design and form, simple massing and common construction details and the building incorporates good quality materials and craftsmanship

Environmental value:
The barn is part of a cohesive complex of buildings arranged to great functional effect in an exceptional site and setting. The Stud-Horse Barn contributes to the character of the Bar U Ranch. This landmark value is reinforced by the designation of the complex as a National Historic Site.

Sources:
Edward Mills, Historic Bar U Ranch Headquarters, Longview, Alberta. Federal Heritage Buildings Review Office Report 92-017

Stud-Horse Barn, (Building 17), Bar U Ranch, Longview, Alberta. Heritage Character Statement 92-017

Character-Defining Elements

The following character-defining elements of the Stud-Horse Barn should be respected, for example:

Its agricultural building type and good quality materials and craftsmanship as manifested in:

- the building’s one-storey massing and T shape plan.
- the gabled roof clad with shingles.
- the large cupola on the roof.
- the light timber structural system and cladding of the addition.
- its interior layout and setting.
- the remaining interior hardware and features.
- the significant patina that has developed on interior surfaces.
- the simple detailing and the vernacular nature of materials used.
- the red and white colour scheme.

The manner in which the building reinforces the character and setting of the Bar U Ranch.