DeFries House, Barn and Carpenter Shop

The DeFries House, Barn and Carpenter Shop are a collection of historic buildings located north of Baldwin, Iowa, United States. They are three of over 217 limestone structures in Jackson County from the mid-19th century, of which 101 were houses, nine were barns, and 36 were other farm related buildings. The stones used in the construction are of various sizes and shapes and laid in courses. The double end chimneys on the house are found on only two other stone houses in the county, and the DeFries and Thomas Slye houses have them constructed in brick. Also similar to the Slye house is the use of jack arches instead on lintels above the windows and doors. It is possible that both houses were constructed by the same stonemason. While the stonemason for the Syle house is unknown, Christian Blessing, who was trained in his native of Germany, built this collection of buildings. He completed the house in 1858 and the horse barn in 1862. The carpenter shop was built in either 1858 or 1862.

Above the main entry into the house is a hausspruch, which translated from the German reads: "The Best that we have is God and his Blessings. B.A. DeVries : T. Ippers : A.B. DeVries." The three people referred to here are Andreas Betten DeVries, later changed to DeFries, his father Bette Andreas DeVries, and his stepmother Trintje Ippers. They immigrated from Germany in 1855 and settled here. The farm expanded under Andreas to include 365 acres (148 ha), as well as other farm buildings. The three stone buildings are the original part of the farmstead. The stone barn is a 18-by-38-foot (5.5 by 11.6 m) structure capped with a gable roof. The carpenter shop is a 16-by-18-foot (4.9 by 5.5 m) structure built adjacent to the house, as such, it is not considered an outbuilding. The three buildings were listed together on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.