Eight barn and farmhouse conversions in the Northeastern United States
A warped metal extension, a bright-yellow entrance and a barn converted into a play house feature in this roundup of barn and farm conversions in the Northeast of the United States.
Ranging from Maine to Pennsylvania, the Northeast region of the United States features a bounty of farmland architecture with a vernacular reflecting its European roots.
Rooted in English, Dutch and German colonial styles, there are some variations, but the farmhouses, barns, and other structures in the region are characterised by clapboard or stone siding, small windows due to the scarcity of glass and steeply pitched roofs in the face of heavy snowfall.
Many architecture studios have been commissioned to restore, expand and update the ageing structures, keeping the original forms intact while adding novel materials and pops of colour as well as contemporary weather-proofing.
The eight farmland properties below have each received a contemporary upgrade with designers preserving or paying homage to the structures' origins, the oldest of which dates back to the late 1700s.
Read on for the full list.
Gallatin Passive House, New York, North River Architecture
North River Architecture created the Gallatin Passive House as an extension to an 18th-century farm in upstate New York, restoring and repurposing an on-site barn as a play space for the owner's children.
"The site design links the new house to a fully restored 18th-century Dutch barn, now repurposed for multi-use events, work, storage and most importantly, a weather-proof recreation area for the owner's three children," said North River Architecture.
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North Salem Farm House, New York, Worrell Yeung
Worrell Yeung updated this historic farmland property in New York by gutting and expanding an original dairy barn on the property and converting it into an L-shaped main house.
The designers also added a free-standing garage, studio, and spa shed each topped with a gabled roof as an homage to the vernacular architecture in the area.
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Floating Farmhouse, New York, Tom Givone
Self-taught designer Tom Givone renovated this dilapidated farmhouse in upstate New York, adding a glass curtain wall in the kitchen and dining area, concrete floors and exposing the original wood beams.
"After a design and renovation process spanning four years, the 1820s manor home is now a study in contrasts: fully restored to its period grandeur while featuring purely modernist elements, including a curtain wall of skyscraper glass in the kitchen, and polished concrete and steel finishes," said Givone.
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Cork Haven, New York, Nate Dalesio
Architect Nate Dalesio updated this 1930s New York house for himself and his young family by reusing the existing foundation but replacing most of the visible structure.
Dalesio replaced aged timber framing, and floorboards, adding a tin roof and wooden plank siding with a host of contemporary materials, including cladding the exterior in corkboard to help insulate the building.
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Twisted Farmhouse, Pennsylvania, Tom Givone
Tom Givone added a warped metal-clad addition to an 1850s Pennsylvania farmhouse, which was designed to appear to "point" across the street to an adjacent home where the owner grew up.
"I imagined this family bond as a physical force, like a gravitational field between the two homes, acting on the addition and 'pulling' it towards the original farmhouse across the street," said Givone.
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Maine Farmhouse, Maine, Kaplan Thompson Architects
Kaplan Thompson Architects linked a traditional Maine farmhouse to a modern extension using a bright yellow volume, which serves as a new entrance.
An "energetic, sculptural" new living and sleeping wing was added to the main farmhouse, with a roof that wings outwards in contrast to its more formal gable roof.
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Connecticut Farmhouse, Connecticut, Hendricks Churchill
For this residence in Connecticut, the client desired a traditional home with contemporary features.
Hendricks Churchill partially demolished the originally low-lying bungalow on the site, leaving only the ground-floor framing and foundation, on which it built a "modern farmhouse" complete with a covered porch and gabled roof.
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Modern Barns, Massachusetts, Aamodt Plumb Architects
Aamodt Plumb Architects renovated a series of barns on this Massachusetts site, which were previously converted into single-family residences in the 1950s and updated again in the 1980s by visual artists Douglas Fitch and Ross Miller.
Among other contemporary updates, Aamodt Plumb Architects revealed the "simple forms" of the three original barns, added a new glass-enclosed entrance and affixed a cedar screen to the facade of the main building.
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