American Barns

At Home in the American Barn examines the fascinating possibilities for living and adaptive reuse provided by the expansive spaces and rough-hewn look of these traditional structures. Nationwide, Americans are turning to structures such as the barn with a mind to renovating them to fit the lifestyles of today, redesigning these often-wonderful places of the past into residential spaces. At Home in the American Barn embraces the dream to slow things down and return to basics and shares some success stories, as made plain by the buildings themselves.This richly illustrated volume focuses on the barn as home. Each of the structures featured has been adapted from its original utilitarian purpose to allow for comfortable, joyous living. Built at first as places for work, barns nevertheless often demonstrate fine craftsmanship and artistry. This volume emphasizes the rare beauty of these structures and shows throughout elegant solutions for living in these beautifully imagined homes. Soaring rafters here allow for dramatic chandeliers in one home or a wall of magnificent bookcases in another. Spaces that are unconventional in a traditional domestic sense here serve as springboards for inspiration that allow for, in one home, a spiral staircase of fantasy made from hand-planed wood, and, in another, a wall of glass that lets in the sun. At Home in The American Barn shows the way that this can be done successfully and artfully.

This lovingly written book presents reliable records of such vanishing forms of architecture as the American barn and covered bridge. Delightful anecdotes accompany accurate line drawings of barns attached to houses, an "open" log barn in Virginia, a "top hat" barn in North Carolina, and more. Over 75 black-and-white illustrations.

"Diana created a warm, down-home country feeling with her choice of Kansas Trouble fabrics by Moda. Her quilt fulfills a drem of driving down country roads in America's heartland. It's perfect to snuggle under by the fireplace on a cold winter day"--Page 4 of cover.

The heart of every working farm and ranch, the barn is an icon of rural America. This book chronicles – and celebrates – all the main types, and looks at how these treasures of early American architecture developed. It explains how a wealth of immigrant construction methods and range of environments and climates resulted in a fascinating variety of barn styles in the United States, from the earliest rare Dutch examples to simpler English types and others in more surprising shapes (round or even polygonal) crafted by the Shakers in the 1800s. It highlights the most notable, famous and historic barns that the reader can visit, and features the efforts of conservation groups to preserve America's barns and find innovative ways to repurpose these glorious old structures as homes and studios – and as living monuments of rural heritage.

"Complementing Harker's photographs are vignettes by poet and writer Jim Heynen. Both whimsical and endearing, each vignette treats barns as organic and intelligent entities, reflecting the living history that can be found inside each rural structure."--BOOK JACKET.

The history of these gorgeous old bits of roadside Americana comes to life with stunning photographs of these crumbling relics of America's rural past. Featuring Mail Pouch Tobacco barns as well as others painted with old-fashioned advertisements, this book includes a profile of a man who painted hundreds of Mail Pouch Tobacco barns. A nostalgic look at the way America used to advertise and photographs of barn ad memorabilia, this beautiful book is a sure bet to tug at the heartstrings of those who long for a simpler time.- This great, nostalgic title will sell as a gift book to Americana and history buffs during the Holiday Season. Its the perfect present for Grandpa and Grandma.- Most Americans, while on vacation, have seen these barns adorned in advertising slogans along the road. These barns are a piece of American history that is disappearing.- The only book in print covering this topic.About the AuthorWilliam G. Simmonds is a senior graphic designer for a large Northeast Ohio corporation. He graduated from Kent State University in 1975 and makes his home in Chardon, Ohio. He has photographed more than 600 Mail Pouch and other ad barns. By doing so he hopes to preserve the memory of these nostalgic structures for future generations.

"Provides an excellent introduction as well as suggestions for using these plans to add architectural detail to your own home...an excellent bibliography."--Victorian Homes "The best home, barn and landscape designs...in a charming book....[It] contains numerous original illustrations showing a wealth of construction details, site plans and plantings."--Fine Homebuilding This classic bestseller contains the finest collection of architectural designs from a bygone era--and it's a boon for anyone hoping to construct that dream house or add charming touches to a modern one. Hundreds of illustrations from actual 19th century building plans feature architects' blueprints and drawings, full-color photos, and more. The buildings range from humble farmers' cabins to summer getaway cottages for the rich, and there's plenty of detail work, including built-in shelves, dormers, and turned balusters. With this information, an architect could easily create anything shown on the pages.

From hay barns to corn cribs, from fences to chicken coops, from silos to outhouses, 'The Old Barn Book's' clear drawings, photos, maps, and descriptions make it easy to figure what's what around a farm.

The story of the American Quilt Trail, featuring the colorful patterns of quilt squares painted large on barns throughout North America, is the story of one of the fastest-growing grassroots public arts movements in the United States and Canada. In Barn Quilts and the American Quilt Trail Movement Suzi Parron takes us to twenty-five states as well as Canada to visit the people and places that have put this movement on America’s tourist and folk art map. Through dozens of interviews with barn quilt artists, committee members, and barn owners, Parron documents a journey that began in 2001 with the founder of the movement, Donna Sue Groves. Groves’s desire to honor her mother with a quilt square painted on their barn became a group effort that eventually grew into a county-wide project. Today, quilt squares form a long imaginary clothesline, appearing on more than three thousand barns scattered along one hundred and twenty driving trails. With more than eighty full-color photographs, Parron documents here a movement that combines rural economic development with an American folk art phenomenon.

An examination of nearly 400 years of the American barn’s form and function illustrated with more than 200 of the authors stunning photographs. Barns come in many flavors: freshly painted or collapsing, adorned or plain, towering or long and low; tucked away in valleys or spotted from the highway; wood, stone or brick. The American Barn will be treasured by anyone intrigued by the country’s rich agricultural history and these deceptively complex buildings.