Coach Barn Rehabilitation: Update 2

Work on the Coach Barn continues, and thanks to the many generous donors who helped us meet the Robert W. Wilson Trust Challenge (part of our successful Campaign for Shelburne Farms), the rehabilitation work will wrap up this autumn. It will fully transform the building into an even more inspirational place for gathering and learning. We are so grateful!

Alongside system upgrades (see earlier update), we’ve been focusing attention on the building’s historic fabric. As we work through the rehabilitation To-Do list for the 125-year-old barn—worn, repaired, and enduring—we focus on the question:

How can we honor a building’s past while adapting it for the future?

Here are a few of the ways we’ve been answering that question recently.

Stable Cobbles

To replace missing cobbles in the stables, we spent months researching and identifying a vendor who made a very similar stone. Then we paused to investigate an alternative: uprooting original cobbles in a utility room to patch the more public stable. But it turns out that all the original cobbles had been concreted into the subfloor and grouted with tar. It would be impossible to remove any without destroying them. When we went back to our vendor, they’d stopped producing the cobbles we needed! So it was back to researching and ultimately finding a different vendor who made a good match.

Such are the twists and turns when the goal is honoring source materials. 

Chimney Bricks

Although our new geothermal heating system and electrified kitchen won’t require chimney venting, we finished rebuilding and capping the Coach Barn's existing chimney. Why? Because the chimney is part of the barn’s story, and is integral to its exterior appearance. Interestingly, today’s commercial bricks are a hair smaller than the bricks of 1900, so the new chimney is a bit smaller than the original, while exactly matching its shape and structure. You’d never notice it to look at. It’s just a fun fact!

Wooden Floors

As in the stable, the Coach Barn’s wooden floors are being reconditioned, including integrating areas of former repair. Historic photos have helped us determine the original sheen (the floors were very shiny!), and we know the original wood: fir.  But time has altered the floors: they've darkened, and have marks and dings that show the barn’s working history. Rather than sand that all away, we’ll take a lighter touch to fashion a uniform floor that will blend old with new, and stand up over time. We are taking a similar approach to the walls (white pine). Fortunately, we can test a lot of treatments in an out-of-sight utility room first.

 

Window Frames

The Coach Barn window frames are a mix of varnished and painted woodwork. To understand and respect that treatment history, we asked longtime consultant Jennie Baker, a fine art conservator who specializes in painted and gilded wooden objects, to study the layers of paint and varnish. Based on her recommendations, we’ll use a white to light gray paint for the painted trim, which is most in keeping with the original colors, and will work to reproduce the walnut tone of the existing varnish. 

The Lift

At the turn of the 20th century, a lift in the barn’s center room regularly hoisted carriages upstairs for storage, and lowered them for use. Although operated sparingly since, the lift has remained functional, and is part of the building’s unique history and identity. After long study and evaluation, the lift will remain, but it will run on entirely new lift mechanics, and with further upgrades to ensure its safe operation. 

These are a few of the ways in which Shelburne Farms is honoring and adapting the Barn’s historic fabric. 

Meanwhile...

Geothermal Heating System Work Moves Indoors

Welders are now connecting pipes to the interior heat pumps of our geothermal heating system. The pumps, installed in former coachmen dorm rooms upstairs, will warm or cool the fluid circulating from the buried pipes outdoors. One step closer to carbon-friendly heat, on the path to Net Zero by 2028. 

The Kitchen

The new kitchen, originally the building’s boiler room, is perhaps the space being most significantly transformed. Construction staff have recently roughed in the room, and are now applying wainscotting siding to the ceiling and upper walls. (The lower walls will be tiled.) The now brightly-lit vaulted ceiling is helping to create a beautiful space even in its “in-progress” state, and we’re looking forward to the day the Coach Barn will be ready to serve up food grown right here on the farm.

Stay tuned! We'll update you again on the Coach Barn's ongoing rehabilitation later this spring. Here's to gathering, learning, and celebrating.