Built of heavy redwood timbers salvaged from an earlier barn, the Knipp and Stengel Ranch Barn is a notable example of mortise and tenon construction. Along with its cluster of associated outbuildings, the complex represents the last vestige of the headquarters of a major northern coastal cattle empire.

As the coastal agricultural economy changed during the 20th century, the barn successively housed beef cattle, dairy cattle, sheep and horses.

The Knipp and Stengel Ranch Barn is one of the vernacular coastal buildings which influenced The Sea Ranch architecture.

Source: Adapted from the NRHP Nomination submitted in 1987.

Since 1998, the Sea Ranch Thespians have performed plays on temporary stages erected in the barn.