Iconic structure razed

by Sue Serdinak

The barn on the Eastwood Preserve was razed with little fanfare on Dec. 13.

Richfield Village officials had determined it was in danger of collapsing and needed to be razed before snow landed on the deteriorated roof.

In 2018, the village was awarded a $60,000 Ohio grant to save the structure with some private citizens offering to subsidize the cost to strengthen the structure. However, the village did not act on the rehab and the building continued to deteriorate. In 2021, some council members explored options to proceed with the restoration, but contractors advised that the 1934 structure was now beyond repair.

Living next door to the Eastwood Preserve, Juanita and Bill Taylor were two of the promised donors who hoped to the save the barn, which had served as an historic barrier between their property and the public grounds.

“It has been a struggle watching the Eastwood barn go,” Juanita said. “I felt it really was the landmark of the Preserve, and it’s hard to look out our back door and see it missing.”

A smaller structure that had been used as a milking barn in the twentieth century was not razed.

Jan Weber, the former Senior Center director, grew up on the property that is now the Eastwood Preserve. She recalled watching her father, Harry Eastwood, build the barn in 1934.

In 2006, after Eastwood died, Mike Lyons, then mayor of Richfield Village, spearheaded an effort for the village to purchase the 28-acre property from Weber with the help of funds from a Clean Ohio Grant.

Weber said she is sad to see the iconic barn go away, but doesn’t dwell on it.

The Taylors are the same. “Change comes and we will look positively and enjoy the opened view of the gardens, fields and forest,” Juanita said. “We had dedicated money to renewing the barn. It will be used for some other worthy project,” she added. ∞