Malabar Inn

Malabar Inn. . In 1819, David Schrack immigrated from Pennsylvania to Richland County. Ohio where he and his wife Elizabeth established a farm, a mill, and a family of fourteen children. To accommodate their growing family, the Schracks constructed this large brick house. When Louis Bromfield and his family left France in 1938, they looked to Ohio as a foundation to build a new future. He consolidated several small Richland County properties, restored the soil and environment, and used it to showcase conservation techniques. This brick house found a new life as a home for workers constructing the Big House. Bromfield planned to convert it to a restaurant, but he died before he could undertake this project., Traditions of building construction and appearance were brought into Ohio from Europe and the East Coast. The Georgian and Federal styles influenced the Malabar Inn's architectural details. This influence is seen in its window pattern, fireplace and chimney locations, side-gabled roof, symmetrical facade with central door, and the detailing around its door and windows. Bromfield wrote: "Their grandfathers were pioneers and the same blood runs in their veins, only they haven't a frontier any longer. They stand... these children of ours... with their backs toward this rough-hewn middle west and their faces set toward Europe... they belong to neither. They are lost somewhere between." The Malabar Inn still serves as a link between European traditions, early Ohio settlers, and modern uses of historical buildings.