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The James Pearse Barn was built in 1869 along with a farmhouse and several other structures by the Pearse family, operators of a local sawmill on the Rouge. It currently serves as the Toronto Zoo's breeding facility for rare and threatened species.
The barn's distinctive extended gables are called "Hay Hoods" and would have made up part of a hay trolley. A pulley under the hood was hooked onto a track running along the underside of the roof ridge. Hay would be hoisted up to the hood and then transferred into the barn and dropped onto the haymow.
The structures incorporate both English and Dutch Colonial barn designs: its "Ells", the two smaller wings set at rights angles to the main structure, are characteristically English while its multiple Gambrel roofs are more closely associated with the Dutch tradition. Along with the two Stong family barns in York University Heights, the James Pearse Barn is one of the oldest barns in Toronto.
