Barn ─ Preservation & Adaptation: the Evolution of a Vernacular Icon

This richly illustrated volume from leading barn historians and preservationists is a celebration of a quintessential American architectural form. Widely revered yet steadily vanishing from our cultural landscape, the barn is an expression of pastoral romance, painstaking craftsmanship, and tradition. The authors, both practitioners of historic barn restoration, offer a tribute to and exploration of the many extant forms of the American barn, following the evolution of the form from this country's earliest days to today, when these structures are repurposed as country lofts and spaces for living. They also show successful efforts to restore, adapt, and repurpose these simple, soulful structures. Barns embody the ethos of another age, one still to be found in these beautiful buildings. Due to the ravages of time, weather, and neglect, these essential American edifices are threatened as never before. Barn afficionados and enchanting storytellers, the authors demonstrate here a profound love and respect for the form. Their book reminds us that barns are as much a part of us as our love of apple pie and should be cherished for their artistry and cultural significance. This revised and updated edition of Barn coincides with the premiere of the PBS series Barnstruck and describes the process of barn preservation through relocation, focusing on the work of The New Jersey Barn Company, whose dedicated efforts over thirty-five years have saved more than 150 structures.

Elric Endersby and Alexander Greenwood are principals of The New Jersey Barn Company and coauthors, along with David Larkin, of Barn: The Art of a Working Building. David Larkin is a book designer, editor, and art director whose work includes The Essential Book of Shaker, Frank Lloyd Wright: The Masterworks, and Frederick Law Olmsted, among other books.