THE LIVEZEY BARN
Yardley Pennsylvania (Formerly: Village of Yardleyville in Lower Makefield Township)
By Larry Hale - November 30, 2004 (Rev: July 2005)
HISTORY
The "big old barn" described by Bill Welch on the Aerial Photo Page is an example of a "Barn & Carriage House" built to serve a household rather than a working grain and/or livestock farm. We refer to it as the "Livezey Barn" built by the Livezeys for Theodore Livezey on land purchased by Elizabeth Baker Livezey on November 1, 1875. This was a special parcel, located in the side yard of the 1732 Ferry House (see
The Livezey Family
Elizabeth had married Theodore Livezey in 1865 when he returned from the Civil War. His father was Allen Livezey (b. 1814) who had four sons: Theodore Livezey (b.1840), Henry Clay Livezey (b. 1843), Benjamin Franklin Livezey (b. 1847), and John G. Livezey (b.1853). Allen Livezey was a carpenter in Lumberville where following family tradition he raised his sons as carpenters. In 1865 Allen Livezey relocated to Yardleyville where his sons Henry C. Livezey and B. Frank Livezey (also Civil War veterans) each became well-known building contractors. They also worked in other locations known to include: Harry (New York, Jersey Coast) and Frank (New York, Atlantic City, Philadelphia). Of special note, B. Franklin Livezey is listed as an architect in "King's Views of Philadelphia, Illustrated" by Moses King, Published by Moses King, New York, 1900 - "(Moses Paxson Residence).
Description of Barn
The original "Livezey Barn" measured 40-ft by 24-ft, was two-stories high, and built on flat ground. The barn faced southeast in a downriver direction and had two 20-ft bays parallel to the river with the right bay (nearest the river) used for the carriage and the left bay (furthest from the river) used for a stable. There was a hayloft on the second floor.
Trenton Times Newspaper, November 21, 1892...
Sale of Real Estate [Livezey House & Barn]… of Joseph Wilson, deceased…
"a substantial Frame House, containing three rooms and hall on first floor, four on second, and finished attic; kitchen in the rear with pump therein;" [and]
a substantial frame barn and carriage house, with stabling for four horses and room for as many wagons, cellar under part of it, and ample room overhead for storing hay, straw, feed, etc;"
A twelve-foot deep forebay was added to the front around 1890, so the overall dimensions became 40-ft by 36-ft.
Livezey Barn Converted to Dwelling (1957)
Mitchell Carter & Alice Ward Carter are credited with preserving the barn. They moved into the Livezey House on a lease arrangement in 1940 and purchased the entire property in 1945. Mr. Carter was a well-known inventor and initially used the barn for his foam plastics business, which became Cartex Corporation of Morrisville. After the flood of 1955 they were burning flood debris in the fireplace and the roof of their house caught fire. Hydrant pressure was insufficient and the house was destroyed.
Converting the Barn: The Carters wanted to keep all the old timber frame type construction exposed on the interior of the barn. They hired an architect hoping to achieve this ideal but it turned out to be too expensive. However they did leave some of the posts and beams exposed and the old mortise and tenon joints, and tapered hardwood pegs all in full view. The original posts and beams were rough-cut, but they decided to use the sand and stain approach in the one room they undertook.
B. Frank Livezey:
Catharine R. Belville lived near the Theodore Livezey house. She said it had characteristics of the Livezey's work, and in 1976 wrote the following about B. Frank Livezey...
"His own home on South Main Street in Yardley still remains as designed on the outside and a number of their [Livezey] houses and structures still retain exterior features and trim unique to this area" and that the Theodore Livezey house "had characteristics of the Livezey's work."
[Writings by Belville, 1976]
Trenton Sunday Times Newspaper, February 16, 1913... [B. Frank Livezey, Carpenter/Builder]
"Livezey's Early Lincoln Ballot" YARDLEY, PA., Feb. 15
"When the war was over Mr. Livezey... spent three years at the carpenter trade. This time was spent under the eye of his father, Allen Livezey, a carpenter and builder... Mr. Livezey's brother Harry in the meantime had gone to New York City and had established a reputation as a builder. He took brother Frank with him, making him superintendent of his works..."
"After some years Mr. Livezey left his brother and started in business for himself. Since then he has been busily engaged erecting the most important structures in this vicinity. He has just returned from Atlantic City where he directed the construction of several large operations."
Dating the Livezey Barn
The 1876 Theodore Livezey House was undoubtedly constructed by the Livezey's, probably mostly by B. Franklin and Allen. It's likely they built the barn not long after the house, because the "barn and house" were described as new in the 1892 newspaper advertisement ---no age distinction was made between them. If so, it appears that the original 40x24 barn did not add significantly to the overall cost [More work is needed here]. This barn likely remained sufficient during Theodore Livezey's ownership (1875-1887) and satisfied what he initially projected to be required for his riding horses. But a 40x24 barn would have been somewhat small for anyone heavily dependent on workhorses. Among the list of families who owned the Livezey Barn there were only two that we know running businesses heavily depended on work horses and possibly requiring a forebay. In January 1888 the property was purchased by Robert Eastburn, a well established coal merchant in Yardleyville since 1863 Robert Eastburn Biography. He sold the property in February 1890 to Joseph Wilson, a young man of 34-years who operated a milk delivery business, and who died unexpectedly in January 1893 at only 37 years of age.
Moving Backwards in Time...
1926 - Aerial photo shows barn and forebay
1903 - Photo of damaged Delaware River Bridge shows barn as small white dot
1903 - Welsh family photo shows horse in front of forebay
1901 - Age of Automobiles
1893 - Newspaper advertisement by Wilson Estate
Moving backwards, Joseph Wilson is the first owner we encounter who might have needed to increase his hay storage capacity. But he purchased the property $2,500, added Lot #2 in rear costing $500, yet the estate only sold for $2,650. This does not suggest that he added the forebay. >1890 - Robert Eastburn sells property
Purchased property for $1,400 and sold for $2,500 ($1,100 gain). He did not purchase any additional land and owned the property for only 2-years. Having already run a Coal Delivery business for many years Eastburn seems the likely choice to have expanded the barn, sometime between 1888 and 1890. It doesn't seenm logical that he would have built the original barn and then decided he needed to add a forebay in that short time period. And it is a certainty that the forebay was not built at the same time as the original barn because the front of the original barn still exists behind the forebay (Ex: Photo of Exterior Plank Wall over carriage entrance).1888 - Theodore Livezey sells property and moves to Virginia.
It's unlikely that Livezey (not operating a horse-drawn business) would have required additional hay capacity over and above the amount provided by the original barn. The key to the solution is the fact that the forebay was definitely added to an already existing barn. This is partly what leads me to a scenario in which Livezey constructed the barn during sometime between 1876 and 1888, most likely near the front end of said period.
References:
"Barns and Outbuildings and How to Build Them" Published in 1881
by Byron David Halsted. [Nathaniel Tripp, 2000, The Lyons Press, NY]
Other Sources: a) early photographs, b) Bill Welch's description of what existed in the 1930s, and c) drawings of the barn made by the Carter family in 1956, and d) our own documents, observations, and measurements.