Barley Sheaf Dutch Barn
San Antonio, Texas

A call from Texas in 1996 launched New Jersey Barn on one of its most unlikely projects-- attaching a late-Eighteenth century New World Dutch barn to a 1960’s ranch house within the city limits of San Antonio. As collectors of folk objects, the clients were versed in history. They had been researching barns and knew exactly what they wanted to display their finds. They also wanted more room. As the husband explains, “We needed more space in the house and we wanted something real open and informal -- a central space where the kids could bring their friends.” “We realized we were talking about a barn.”

A builder himself with a love for vernacular architecture, the new owner could envision how an existing ranch house on the property could be altered to resemble a low dairy wing that had been attached to an old barn. He and his wife flew east to meet us and look at scale models and standing structures. The Texas couple chose the Barley Sheaf Dutch barn, measuring 33 by 42 feet, that had been rescued in 1980.

After repairs had been completed to the barn it was shipped to Texas accompanied by New Jersey Barn Company's Alex Greenwood and Elric Endersby, the architect and the crew. The raising took a week, culminating in a party for the participants, curious neighbors, family and friends.

The Texas couple supervised construction and interior finishes, a process which took just shy of a year. The resulting conversion assumes the traditional aspect of the agrarian structure it once was -- sheathed in wide boards, with a standing-seam roof and windows in the large openings once provided for wagon doors. Acknowledging its new surroundings, the barn is also provided with a protective side porch and the chimney and other stonework is laid up in local creamy yellow sandstone.

A more detailed description of the Barley Sheaf Barn project can be found in the article Adapting Old Barns (click here).