Power House - Garage

The Anna Dean Farm Power House and Auto Garage sat directly due east of the Mansion on the opposite side of the circular driveway. Here we see the Power House from across the reflecting pond, in the middle of the circular driveway.

This building directly due east of the O. C. Barber Mansion served several purposes. Entering the large doors on the north west side of the building, you would find Mr. Barber's automobiles, which included a Pierce Arrow and a Peerless limousine.

The doors on the south west side of the building is where the dynamo was to generate DC electric power to the east side of the Anna Dean Farm. In the basement of this building was a large set of doors on the north east side of the building. These doors entered into a walk-in area where the Stirling Boiler was kept to provide steam heat to the Mansion. The heat tunnel was large enough to walk through, connecting the Mansion and the Power House under ground.

Please notice the intricate diamond pattern in the brick of the Power House and Auto Garage. Only the Mansion, Power House, Apiary, Barn No 2, and Machine Barn were built using the diamond brick pattern, meant to represent the greatest source of Mr Barber's wealth, the Diamond Match Company.

On the second floor of the Power House and Auto Garage there were three sets of apartments comprising 18 individual rooms, sharing a common balcony on the Northwest roof corner. A huge skylight allowed natural light to filter down into all three apartments. Here we see the great fireplace in the main apartment of the Power House.

An interesting fact about the Power House and Auto Garage is that it was the only building on the Anna Dean Farm to have a date stone set in Roman Numerals. The date 1910 is spelled out as MCMX on the second floor date stone of the Power House.