The Barn, The Farm, And The End
Only thing constant is change
This is the time of the year when making photos at the Braun Farm is either feast or famine. This Monday was both.
My Final Photo for Monday showed the contrast between sections of the lower field sprayed with weedkiller and the section left untreated. Fortunately for the photo but not the farmer, he ran out of spray about halfway through. The result is a near symmetrical pattern. He’ll be back to complete the field after spraying the nearby corn field.
The farmhouse is now covered in mostly sumac vines with just enough poison ivy to make me steer clear of it. I did make an early afternoon photo with the house and barn.
Not a very productive Braun Farm Monday but it may be among the last set of photos that include the two structures.
I’m told by people involved that demolition permits may soon be issued to remove the farmhouse and the barn.
The house is uninhabitable in its current condition. Groundhogs have taken residence in all four corners. Plywood covers the doors and windows damaged by vandals. The lack of preservation shows how powerful entropy can be on a manmade structure.
The cost of restoration would be more than its value.
The Braun Farm Barn is a “Historically Contextual Building” in the city’s Comprehensive Plan approved in 2016. All but one of the structures listed in this category are barns. (Editor note: Fixed date to read 2016 instead of 1916, as originally posted. Doh!)
The Braun Farm barn is a working farm building. It always has farm equipment in and around it depending upon the season and the crop. The foundation is strong.
If there is a tornado warning for Westerville, the safest place to be is the lower floor of the barn.
There have been several proposals for business development of the Braun Farm property. None have been approved by the Westerville Planning Commission.
There are only three large plots of undeveloped land along Cleveland Avenue. One is at the corner of Cleveland Ave and Polaris Parkway. Another is the nearby Yarnell Farm property. The Braun Farm property is the third.
The farm is the closest to Uptown, to Otterbein, and to the bike path. An apartment building now covers a hay field near the bike path. When an acceptable development is presented to the planning commission and city council, the farm property will be developed. And the barn and farmhouse will not be a part of the result.