Born Again Barn

Story by Jason Peak • Photography by Roger Wade

A 17th-century barn becomes a 21st-century home

In February, Salt Lake City, Utah will host the 2002 Winter Olympics. The games eventually will become part of history, but the city is already home to one family that has made their own history. Mike and Kathy Lee's nearby home (the home is actually not in Salt Lake City but is located in Park City, Utah about 30 miles away.) is a restored oak English timber framed barn circa 1650. But the last 20 years of this timber frames's history are just as interesting as its first 300.

"This started in 1977, when we saw an article about timber frames being exported from England by R. Durtnell and Sons," Mike says. The disassembled frame–which for four centuries was a 78-by-28-foot grain barn in Takeley, Essex–was the first one Durtnell, which was founded in 1591, exported to the United States. Mike first saw similar timber frames in Canada, where two of them were used to build an estate. Mike saw that it was "something special" and bought it.

For more than 15 years, the beams were stored while the Lees looked for the perfect place to build their home. "We decided we wanted to make it into a family retreat," Mike says. "But we were young and weren't sure where to build it. It was easy to store all those years, knowing we would build a house out of it some day."

The restored timber frame barn forms the great room and living area in the main leg of the L-shaped house.

Eventually they decided to build the 6000-square-foot home in the Park City area, on a hill offering sweeping vistas of majestic mountains and a serene valley. Besides being avid skiers, Mike and Kathy both attended college nearby and have family in the area. "the timber frame ends have large windows and French doors providing wonderful views of two ski resorts and surrounding mountains," he says. "it was the right place for it. You can really get away when you're up here."

The Lees took great pains to preserve the character of the structure. They read books on old-style construction and visited England to tour some country cottages. “Those old homes used a great room with a fireplace in the center,” Mike says, so we put a double fireplace right in the center, which nicely divides the main living area.”

A designer did the initial configuration and layout on the lot; then the Lees designed the floorplan. The original barn frame forms the great room and the living area in the main leg of the L-shaped house.

Curtis Graf of Lifestyle Builders in Park City, Utah, answered their bid for the restoration. His company “was the only builder who saw our vision,” Mike says. “He knew it would be a work in progress, and when we talked to him, we realized he was the right guy to do it. We didn’t have elaborate plans, but he brought it all together.”

The frame raising was a family event. “Seeing it go up after storing it for so long was rewarding,” Mike says. “One of the greatest feelings was seeing the timber frame being assembled in its original configuration. It was a revelation something from 1650 being created into a modern house.”

Construction lasted two years, and the Lees traveled from San Francisco almost every weekend to participate after the frame was erected and enclosed. Family members, including their five children, helped make the oak plank doors and flooring. Mike, who made the dining room table and fireplace mantels himself, had experience in woodworking with Old World techniques, and his family learned from him.

Some excess pieces of the timber frame were used to create a hardwood floor in the room they now call the sports pub. “There are great grain patterns and color variations in the cross sections from the beams,” Mike says. The staircase railings were also cut from leftover timbers.

The Lees’ efforts paled in comparison to Curt’s in getting the building permits approved and in building the home. “The planning and building departments had no idea what to do with the house,” Mike says. “It was entirely foreign to them.”

The kitchen showcases the unusual diagnol posts that reflect the character of teh 1650's barn.

The home’s original plan had exposed beams on the exterior, but the community’s regulations wouldn’t allow the Tudor look. That was only one of the obstacles. They wanted a uniform look and didn’t allow steep roof’ pitches, but barns have steep roofs by their very nature. Most roofs are built with a 25-pound snow load. This area, being a ski resort, requires a snow load of 200 pounds, as well as seismic engineering. “The original roof was never designed for that,” Curt says.

Curt knew the house would be special, and he wouldn’t give tip. “The Lees had these dreams and they knew exactly what they wanted. I repeatedly went back to the building and planning department to get it accomplished,” he says.

Other difficulties appeared. A local engineer who designed the layout of the frame based his drawings on representative samples, but no one knew that the timbers were not necessarily in good condition and in fact, most of them were irregular.

Construction brought its own concerns. “This is not like ordering a timber frame package,” Curt says. “It was so old and was disassembled so long ago that when we went to put it together, many of the labeling tags were gone. We had to play ‘tiddly winks’ with those beams to get them to fit.”

Another challenge soon became apparent: In the 1650s, the barn had been built on a slight slope, and one end was narrower than the other was. “In a reconstruction like this, you have to do whatever you can to make it come together,” he says.

With the frame up, there were more hurdles-the old beams didn’t appear to be structurally sound. “The engineer looked at it,” Curt says, “kind of smiled, and said ‘Let’s go to plan B.’ “ They ended up constructing a fully structural shell on the outside to support the barn frame, and added a conventional roof system.

The stairwell leads to the conventionally built part of the house.

The surviving beams were left in their original state. Some of them looked rotted, but it was just on the surface. “Underneath, it was beautiful, solid wood,” Curt says. “Rather than stain’ them, we just used a power-washer.” Some of the beams are brown oak, which is virtually impossible to find today.

The Lees are extremely satisfied with their historically significant home. “It’s a piece of England,” Mike says. “We’re living in a historic timber frame that embodies a lot of tradition and reveals the way building developed. We wanted a gathering place to carry on family traditions.”

Curt is happy as well. “As it evolved, I became more pleased with my good fortune,” he says. “Not only is it an attractive structure, the home has a real warmth to it. It was more work than any job I’ve done before or since, but it was worth it.”

Making history always is.