s

The Burckles moved from Kentucky to start a new life on a farm steaded in the 1930s. Their dreams were to raise horses, make fine saddles, and live in the unused 1936 dairy barn with their two children. We agreed that the serene presence and magnificent timber frame this large barn possessed should be revered and become the backbone of our design. Our planning revolved around developing the living spaces on the stall level, leaving the breath-taking basilica-like hay loft empty and free for Lane County’s largest recreation room! Window and door design started with deriving from the simple four-light sashes originally used. Architectural salvage stores provided a wealth of visually derivative fenestration. A stunning collection of art glass windows and doors, salvaged many years before this project, became available during our early planning stages.... a collection which originated as salvage from the Spreckles Estate... for the value of the lead! We then had a local window and door maker fashion hybrid sash and frame designs deriving evenhandedly from elements in all our now-ample and diverse collection. The barn framing proved restrictive for large windows and groupings until we hit upon the idea of creating broad and high shallow bays that "float" across the exterior surfaces of posts, beams, and knee braces. Poles from a demolished turn-of-1900 barn, across the road, provided the framework for the grand stairs to the loft. A cooper crafted the bath tub from old growth redwood. The shower plumbing and bracketed marble-topped sink originated in an old hotel. The 13' bathroom ceiling provided magnificent clearance for the wood and tin gravity tank with its long chain. The original 3x12 stall flooring was thoroughly grease-and-oil-stained from years of county road-working machinery storage, and still caked with goat droppings from times before that- we elected to turn the boards over and seal them, an operation taking two months. We learned the barn never had gotten used as a dairy barn. We originally installed wood heat for the living spaces and we subsequently needed to supplement with a forced air electric system. Battens for the barn siding were measured in miles and caulking gun tubes were measured by the gross. Sash and frame painting, woodworking with its shimming and sealing, and hardware installation approached factory intensity. The results rewarded.

1974

1982

Grand Stairs to loft

Morning Room

Kitchen corner