The Farm Barn was constructed by Dr. William Seward and Lila Vanderbilt Webb between 1886 and 1890. During the Farms' heyday at the turn of the century, it was hub and headquarters for the model agricultural estate, housing the farm’s administrative offices, a variety of shops for blacksmithing, painting, carpentry and other services, agricultural machinery, wagons, stables for work mules, and storage rooms for harvested crops. Designed by architect Robert H. Robertson, the Farm Barn boasts a five-story-high main section and a courtyard of nearly 2 acres.

As the prosperity of the farm declined through the 1930s and 1940s, the Farm Barn remained agricultural headquarters, though it suffered from lack of maintenance.

After the property was converted from private ownership to a nonprofit corporation in 1972 and began to evolve into a center for environmental education, the Farm Barn found a new role: as hub for the farm’s growing agricultural and natural resource education programs. From 1990-1993, the Farm Barn was rehabilitated for this new use. It received a new copper roof, new cedar shingles, a ground-floor sprinkler system and a state-of-the-art radiant heat system. Architect Martin Tierney and construction manager Mark Neagley of Neagley and Chase Construction supervised the $3-million renovation, which was made possible by generous grants and private gifts.

Today, the Farm Barn is again "headquarters" for Shelburne Farms and home to a number of independent producers. The Farms' administrative offices, the McClure Center for School Programs, the Children’s Farmyard, and our cheesemaking facility and catalog operations are all located here. In addition, O'Bread Bakery, an independent organic bakery finds a home here, as does the nonprofit wildlife organization, Outreach for Earth Stewardship, the independent furniture maker, Beeken/Parsons and the Renaissance elementary school.