Discover Bath Barns: L+P Architecture barn

by Laura Bednar

Bath Township’s Heritage Corridors of Bath Committee manages one of 27 designated scenic byways in Ohio. The Heritage Corridors of Bath byway, established in 2001, covers 39 miles of road within the township and is designed to tell the story of Ohio’s Western Reserve from the Bath Township perspective: Preserve the rural heritage and maintain the bucolic landscapes for all to enjoy.

When traveling the byway, more than 30 barns are visible, many more than 100 years old and several listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The history and heritage of these barns, like many in Ohio, are fading from memory.

Bath Township trustees decided to address this problem and in 2023 created a committee, Discover Bath Barns, as a means to preserve and enhance the heritage represented by these barns. This group, part of the larger Heritage Corridors of Bath Committee, has partnered with the Bath Country Journal to publish a series of articles about some of the barns along the byway.

The barn that houses architecture firm L+P Design and Architecture at 2138 N. Cleveland-Massillon Rd. was originally part of the J.B. Lambert farm. Lambert and his wife Lois settled in Bath in 1834, buying 50 acres and purchasing more over the years. By 1870, the family farm was comprised of 140 acres.

Lambert was a member of the Summit County Agricultural Society, serving on a committee for its fair in 1851 and elected a director in 1853. His agricultural activity is reflected in the refinement of the barn. Lambert’s daughter Sarah and her husband Andrew Brock took over the farm in 1888 after Lambert and Lois died. Sarah and Andrew Brock’s son Harry married Marcia Miller of Richfield and had two sons, Harry and Clarence.

Marcia Miller Brock died in 1905 and her parents, William and Mary Miller, eventually took over the farm, raising Clarence. The couple later owned and farmed the property until they retired in the 1920s.

The barn is a bank barn, built into sloped ground with two floors, both accessible from the ground level. It was used as a dairy barn during its farm days, but the property was eventually zoned commercial as the Hammond’s Corners area expanded. The barn was adapted for business purposes and has been used for various design studios for at least 45 years, according to Chris Nonno of L+P Architecture.

Due to the large number of bats that once lived in the barn, Nonno said there was a large piece of plastic running from gable to gable along the barn roof, which was weighted down with bat droppings.

When L+P took over the property in the late 1990s, employees stored accounting documents and blueprint drawings in the barn. Nonno said this was before the firm went digital and drawings were done by hand. Nowadays, they use the barn for office and family events.

The barn’s foundation is original and L+P has performed routine maintenance to keep the barn standing. The barn’s shingle roof was replaced with a metal one, and it received a fresh coat of paint last year.

Nonno said a couple years ago, there was a small electrical fire in the corner of the barn. He and his associates came to work and the air smelled of fire, which was not uncommon when people held a campfire the night before. A man who worked at Revere Local Schools drove by and stopped to tell the owners there was smoke coming from the barn. He called the fire department and Bath and Richfield departments responded.

Luckily, the fire didn’t spread beyond a corner of the barn, which sustained little damage. Nonno stopped at the home of the man who sounded the alarm with a gift card to Farmer’s Rail to “thank him for saving a part of Bath history.” ∞

Main photo: The L+P Architecture barn was part of J.B. Lambert’s farm. Lambert was an early Bath settler in the 1800s. Photo by Laura Bednar.