Sen-9, Levi Barden House, 5300 Wabash Road

Documentation

Building date: 1841 per Roudabush, 1835 per Palmer.

Original use:

Corner structures: Quoins are uniform, tooled

Mortar application and content: Vertical heavy. Vertical pyramids. Vertical mortar is depressed below the top horizontal and slopes outward toward the bottom. The resulting pyramids are cut off at the bottom.

Types and uses of stones: Stones are irregular, but slightly smoothed. 5 rows of stones opposite the quoin in front and 4 rows on the right side, with only 3 on the left side.

Types and choice of windows:

Structures with similar masonry details: Sen-7 Hornbeck

Masons who worked on building: Not known. The owner advises there were three masons employed in building the house. The head mason was paid $2.50 per day, the apprentice $1.25 per day, and the laborer 75 cents per day.

Unique features:

Map Location

Map views courtesy Google Maps. Address is Google Earth confirmed; 42°46'13.75"N 77°01'54.95"W. Current owner of record, Barden Home Farm Irrovacable Trust as of the 2019 Tax Roll.

Town of Seneca and Ontario County Maps

Comments, Additional Information, References

This house on 5300 Wabash Rd., built in the 1830's, is 1½ stories. The front has a center porch with four pillars. Quoins are uniform and have 5 rows of stones opposite the quoin in front and 4 rows on the right side, with only 3 on the left side. Stones are irregular, but slightly smoothed. Vertical mortar is depressed below the top horizontal and slopes outward toward the bottom. The resulting pyramids are cut off at the bottom. Roudabush Survey page 89

Levi (later Henry V.) Barden House, 5300 Wabash Road, built in 1836. Note the unusual large, three-section Palladian window facing south. The center is arched and has two sided sections. This house was placed on the National Register in 2003. Note stone smokehouse at rear. Richard Palmer blog.

The porch pillars were sawn from lumber grown on the farm and the quoins were taken from the Bellona Quarry, which is about two miles away.

"The Cobblestone Houses of Upstate New York", compiled by Dorothy Wells Pease. Research done in collaboration with Hazed B. Jeffery, supplemented with material furnished by Carl F. Schmidt, 1941. Reference the fifth paragraph on page 21.

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The Barden farm in 1878.

H V Barden farm, Seneca, Ontario County.jpg", "History of Ontario Co. New York", page 145, Plate XLV, Everts, Ensign & Everts, 1878.

     This fine house took several years to build. The round, smooth cobblestones were hauled from Lake Ontario. It was occupied in 1836, although not completely finished. Built in a classically reminiscent, Colonial style, it shows but slightly the ravages of a century of northern winters, having been always well kept up. Protected by the spacious white-pillared porch is the hospitable doorway, also with narrow windows at the top and sides, and ornamented with carved spool work and beading.
     The door opens into a wide hall, quaintly papered, from which a really graceful winding stairway ascends. Living rooms are on each side of the hall, the one at the south being unmistakably designed as the "parlor," in its appointments.
     Against a background of delightful sky-blue, the white woodwork is rather elegantly carved - fluted window and door frames, with a conventional lily design at the upper corners, and supporting the fireplace mantel, Doric columns. A fire screen, depicting a painted scene of long ago, and a number of oil paintings add interest.
     The back part of the house "rambles," after the style of our fathers, but is staunch and neat as is the ornamental iron fence edging the lawn.
     Levi Barden with his wife, Maria Bush, had two sons, Luther and Henry Vincent, and one daughter, Ruby Ann (McConnell). Early in the Civil War, Luther, the older son, was sent to New Orleans, with the 26th N.Y. regiment. His letters tell of common things - inspection, mosquitoes, sickness among the boys. He sounds a little homesick, although a sergeant.
     Then in May, 1863, comes another letter, this time from an old neighbor, First Lieut. Adam Beattie. There is sad news. Luther was then suddenly ill - a slight fever, the hospital, a relapse - he discusses certain difficulties about sending home the remains- he is sympathetic, regretful. War is war.
      At last, in July, the earthly part of Luther comes home. How plainly can imagination picture the flag-draped casket, borne out of the wide front door and down the walk, between rows of box now replaced by phlox and peonies), to start the winding way to a rest in Bellona Cemetery.

Becomes Owner in 1876

     Henry Vincent Barden, born in 1837, became owner of the farm at his father's death in 1876. He continued to spend the more than 35 remaining years of his life in the management of his 200 acres, devoted to general farming and dairying. In 1883, he had the misfortune to lose an arm in a mowing machine accident.
[Excerpt from an article on the Barden family, Geneva Daily Times, November 14, 1936]. Richard Palmer blog.

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"Historic Yates Area Homes", Geneva Daily Times, Monday, February 2, 1955.

The Cobblestone Society & Museum Tours:

Barden - Fontana House 8th Annual 06/15/1968

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National Register of Historic Places Registration This property is listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places. Asset Detail National Register of Historic Places 5/11/1995. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form when available provides quite detailed information about the cobblestone structure. Levi Barden Cobblestone Farmhouse Wikipedia article.

Photographs

Levi Barden house 1835.jpg ¹ Architectural drawing 1835.	Screen Shot 2018-04-22 at 10.27.15 PM.jpg ¹ 1917	Sen-9 Levi Barden House 1.jpg ² Pease Collection 1940-41	Sen-9 Levi Barden House 3.jpg ² Photograph not dated.
Sen-9 Levi Barden House 2.jpg ² Polaroid photograph not dated.	Sen_9_1.jpg	Sen_9_2.jpg	Sen_9_3.jpg
Sen_9_4.jpg	Sen_9_5.jpg	Sen_9_6.jpg	Sen-9 Levi Barden House 4.jpg ²
Sen-9, 5300 Wabash Rd 1.jpg ³	Sen-9, 5300 Wabash Rd 2.jpg ³	Levi Barden house, 5300 Wabash Road.jpg 4	Levi Barden house.jpg 4
Palladian window 1.jpg 4 Palladian window exterior	IMG_2452 2.jpg 4 Palladian window interior

¹ Attribution not provided. Richard Palmer blog.
² Image courtesy Cobblestone Museum.
³ Photography courtesy Martin and Sheila Wolfish.
⁴ Photography courtesy Richard Palmer.