New Jersey Barn Company: Rebuilding Our Past
Builder/Architect So. & Central Jersey Edition, August 1995

Driving down a country road through central New Jersey, your eyes scan an old farmstead you have passed for years. Suddenly you realize the old barn that once painted a familiar silhouette against the horizon has finally withered and fallen into a heap on the ground.

For Elric J. Endersby and Alexander T, Greenwood, the scene just described is a grim but common occurrence. It is scenes like this, dotting the New Jersey countryside, which they are trying to prevent. And they are doing just that with their business, the New Jersey Barn Company.

At their offices located in a 19th century grist mill, Greenwood, sitting amid historic relics and wooden models of barns, notes, "It is an odd business, but we feel we're filling a gap. Historical societies are interested in saving old buildings, but they really don't have the equipment and skills. Then there are builders who have equipment and skills, but not the interest in saving old buildings. We fall in between."

The "in between" means that the New Jersey Barn Company rescues many of the state's old barns and houses before they deteriorate beyond saving, or tumble in the wake of a developer's path. After documentation, the barns are disassembled with great care. They are then re-erected on another site for a client, or are stored in the company's storage barn, ready for resale.

Once re-erected, the barns often become homes. One barn was transformed into a summer home on Long Island for film director Steven Spielberg. Another serves as a garage, exercise room and party space on an estate in Princeton. But the potential for these historic treasures is virtually limitless. Imagine the grandeur of an old barn that houses a church, retail store, offices or a restaurant.

So how did two men from New Jersey get into such an unusual business? The idea began formulating when the two met 20 years ago. The partners have backgrounds in restoration carpentry, historic preservation and art history. "Elric was the first person I encountered who shared my interest in architectural history," says Greenwood. "Together, we started going through old barns and abandoned houses, speculating about how they were built or why they looked as they did."

The catalyst for the formation of the New Jersey Barn Company came in 1976, when Greenwood and two friends purchased a Georgian house near Princeton, called Glencairn. The house had been neglected for many years, and it took a good deal of time and painstaking research to restore it authentically. They discovered the foundation of a barn that had been one of the original outbuildings which, according to Greenwood, "inspired us to seek out an old barn of similar dimensions. So, after locating and moving that first barn, we thought we might go back and revisit others. We thought if they were relocated, they might have a second life." And so the business began.

The company identifies threatened structures, finds the owners and negotiates for their removal. Stripped of its skin, the structure is measured, photographed and tagged before disassembly. It is no small feat to separate huge oak timbers with pegged mortise and tenon joinery dating back to the 18th and early 19th centuries. But it is just these factors of superb craftsmanship and material that make New Jersey barns worth saving. According to Greenwood, New Jersey barns are superior in structure to many of those found in the New England area, where soft woods were employed as framing timbers. "Here, oak was the wood of choice. These hardwood barns were the finest, most durable structures of their time."

Each New Jersey barn tells a story of the European ancestors who cut the frames that are still standing today. Dutch, English and Swiss-German settlers each had distinct framing techniques. The use of the barns themselves changed with the tides of agriculture, and with it their designs. Since there are rarely cornerstones, and few records exist, it is the construction details that barn sleuths Endersby and Greenwood use to date their finds. Photographs, measured drawings and scale models are produced to carefully document each structure. As many of the original pieces as possible are saved and used again in the reassembled building.

In order to take down a barn you must first determine how it went up. "The dismantling process is effectively the construction process in reverse," says Greenwood. "The frame is a bit like a puzzle, and there is a definite sequence that has to be followed in order for it to come apart." They typically use a crane for the process, although, on occasion, they have staged "hand raisings," to reassemble a frame. "It takes many people and it is more complicated for us, but it certainly is more fun," he adds.

Now that the business is well-established, many farmers, builders and developers contact New Jersey Barn Company when a structure needs to be removed. While the company has worked with many developers over the years, removing unwanted structures, they have recently been called in as consultants to evaluate existing old buildings and to assist in planning and restoration. Rather than viewing historic buildings as liabilities, developers, with the help of Endersby and Greenwood, are beginning to treat them as the focus of a proposed development. This approach often sits very well with local planning boards and historical groups eager to save a bit of the past. Builders also call on them to review house plans. Sometimes minor adjustments to proportions and detailing provide the historical accuracy that enhances a house's marketability.

In recent years, they have expanded their consultation and design services to assist clients with barn conversions and various preservation projects. Presently, they are designing barn houses in New Jersey and Massachusetts, as well as a sympathetic addition for an 18th century stone house in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Historic buildings on existing sites require special attention, so that they are preserved for the future. Preservation consultation includes research master planning and historic register nominations.

Over the past 15 years, they have disassembled more than 70 buildings. In addition to barns, the company also restores churches, homes and other outbuildings. When a subdivision road in Hopewell Township threatened a farm established in 1787, they disassembled, moved and reassembled the entire house, incorporating well-disposed additions they had designed. E. Allen Reeves of Abington, Pennsylvania, served as general contractor, while the New Jersey Barn Company handled the restoration phase. The project recently won an award from the American Builders Council, as well as the Timber Framers Build of North American Award for Best Design.

The restoration of historic buildings is much more than a career to Endersby and Greenwood—to them, rebuilding our past is a vocation and a passion.