Heating House

The Heating House on Robinson Ave is a very unusual building. Built to nestle into the hillside between the Green Houses and Robinson Ave, the Heating House was used to house the two twin Babcock and Wilcox built Stirling Boilers. Here we see the Heating House from across the Green Houses, looking north from Barn No 1.

With the large original towering Chestnut tree in front of the Heating House this building appears small when viewed from Robinson Ave. In actuality the Heating House is three stories tall and is one of the larger out buildings on the Anna Dean Farm.

The Heating House seen from Robinson looking south west. This three story 14,000 square foot building houses both the double Stirling Boilers and the offices for the Anna Dean Farm Green Houses.

The east side or main entrance to the Heating House. This building is split into two separate halves. The boiler side (west end of the building) houses the double Stirling Boilers. The east side, shown here, housed a three story area used as offices and storage for the Anna Dean Farm Green Houses.

The bent tube design of the Stirling Boiler, shown here in a cut away view, was used to provide 300 pounds of steam. The steam from the Heating House's double steam boilers was used to provide steam heat not only to heat the green houses, but also to provide steam to drive the electric dynamo that provided DC power in underground cables to power the barns and outbuildings on the western side of the Anna Dean Farm.

Stoking the double Stirlings. In order to maintain steam to the dynamo to provide electric power, one side of the Stirling boiler had to be run at all times, even during the summer. This double, bent tube, boiler arrangement was first patented by Alan Stirling in 1891. The Stirling Company, with O. C. Barber as president, soon moved to the new town of Barberton in 1892. In 1906 The Stirling Company merged with Babcock and Wilcox of New York.