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MASONVILLE — Through one lens, the scene at Bill Taylor’s home Tuesday could have been a glance into the turn of the 20th century.
Workers used pulleys and ropes to hoist pieces of apricot-colored timber 30 feet high, guiding it into pre-cut slots that fit just so, like a larger-than-life Lincoln Logs set.
The men took breaks to use the outhouse just north of the corral, and as Taylor supervised the work, his daughter and grandchildren worked in the kitchen, peeling carrots and potatoes for the elk stew that would be the crew’s lunch.
The only evidence that this was not a 19th-century barn-raising was the fact that Taylor’s Belgian draft horses were not the ones hoisting the wood with block and tackle. That job was left to the fuel-powered crane.
Horses Katie and Clydie watched from the sidelines, occasionally nudging a spectator’s arm, looking for a snack.
Through another lens, however, this modern barn-raising was a perfect window into the early 21st century West. Aside from the obvious Industrial Age machinery, there was the word on everyone’s lips: the environment.
When it comes to buildings, old is new again, and green is the new “new urbanism.”
Taylor, 61, wanted to preserve the area’s historic setting—he lives in a 1920s-era schoolhouse—and decided to go with a timber framed post and beam building.
Crews wore hard hats and rock-climbing gear as they clambered over the beams, working them into place with wrenches and hammers. The building will give way a little even after it’s finished, but that flexibility will help it hold up to the elements.
“If you want to weather a storm, you’ve got to be flexible,” Taylor said.
The building site on Tuesday had all the elements of an old fashioned barn-raising, and like those century-old projects, this was a community effort.
“There’s very few people in Colorado who understand this kind of construction, and they’re both neighbors of mine,” Taylor said.
He got in touch with Mark Miller, who lives about three-fourths of a mile up Larimer County Road 27 and owns Trail Ridge Timber Frames. After Taylor and a few Amish friends harvested some dead Douglas fir trees from a burned area near Monte Vista, he had them squared at a saw mill where he is part owner and brought them to Miller, who would cut them so they would fit snugly. Then Miller contacted Mark Benjamin, who owns Crown Jade Design and Engineering, to design the barn around the frames.
Miller said the project was a great example of why timber frame construction is more environmentally friendly than modern construction—it uses trees that would have gone to waste, and offers sturdier construction that will last longer.
He travels to Europe frequently and recently visited a building used to store hay to support the Crusades. Its construction is similar to Taylor’s barn, only it was built by Templars 900 years ago.
Miller said he has seen the industry grow rapidly from its beginnings in wealthy mountain communities years ago.
“When I started doing this 12 years ago, it was lifestyles of the rich and famous stuff,” he said.
Benjamin didn’t learn about timber framing in professional engineering school at Northern Arizona University, so he taught himself with books and courses on the side.
“I’d lay in bed at night and read it and tell my wife, ‘Hey, listen to this, isn’t this cool?’” he said with a laugh. “I love this kind of stuff.”
Benjamin, who wore a white ponytail and handlebar mustache under his red hard hat, spoke fondly of the project’s deeper meaning for the environment and emerging businesses like his own. He specializes in green, alternative home design and engineering.
“We want to help people design their green buildings, because it’s not just a buzzword anymore,” Benjamin said. “It is our children’s future.”
That’s what Taylor had in mind when he first conceived of the barn years ago.
His makes his home in the former Masonville School, which replaced the old Buffum School, built in 1866, after it burned down. The Masonville School was built in 1922 and used until the early 1960s, when Big Thompson Elementary School replaced it.
The family of settler David Thompson originally owned the land and donated it to the county for use as a school, but the deed said that after it ceased being used in that fashion, it would go back into private hands.
Taylor bought the property in 2001 and has created a lifestyle similar to that of his childhood growing up on a dairy farm in western New Jersey, not far from Amish country.
Taylor was 9 years old when his family’s barn burned down. The community rallied for an old-fashioned barn-raising, not unlike the one he re-created on Tuesday. The memory of that day stayed with Taylor for the next five decades, and he wants his grandchildren to have the same experience.
“My job as a grandpa is to create memories,” he said. “They can always come to this barn and feel like it’s part of their heritage.”
Workers used pulleys and ropes to hoist pieces of apricot-colored timber 30 feet high, guiding it into pre-cut slots that fit just so, like a larger-than-life Lincoln Logs set.
The men took breaks to use the outhouse just north of the corral, and as Taylor supervised the work, his daughter and grandchildren worked in the kitchen, peeling carrots and potatoes for the elk stew that would be the crew’s lunch.
The only evidence that this was not a 19th-century barn-raising was the fact that Taylor’s Belgian draft horses were not the ones hoisting the wood with block and tackle. That job was left to the fuel-powered crane.
Horses Katie and Clydie watched from the sidelines, occasionally nudging a spectator’s arm, looking for a snack.
Through another lens, however, this modern barn-raising was a perfect window into the early 21st century West. Aside from the obvious Industrial Age machinery, there was the word on everyone’s lips: the environment.
When it comes to buildings, old is new again, and green is the new “new urbanism.”
Taylor, 61, wanted to preserve the area’s historic setting—he lives in a 1920s-era schoolhouse—and decided to go with a timber framed post and beam building.
Crews wore hard hats and rock-climbing gear as they clambered over the beams, working them into place with wrenches and hammers. The building will give way a little even after it’s finished, but that flexibility will help it hold up to the elements.
“If you want to weather a storm, you’ve got to be flexible,” Taylor said.
The building site on Tuesday had all the elements of an old fashioned barn-raising, and like those century-old projects, this was a community effort.
“There’s very few people in Colorado who understand this kind of construction, and they’re both neighbors of mine,” Taylor said.
He got in touch with Mark Miller, who lives about three-fourths of a mile up Larimer County Road 27 and owns Trail Ridge Timber Frames. After Taylor and a few Amish friends harvested some dead Douglas fir trees from a burned area near Monte Vista, he had them squared at a saw mill where he is part owner and brought them to Miller, who would cut them so they would fit snugly. Then Miller contacted Mark Benjamin, who owns Crown Jade Design and Engineering, to design the barn around the frames.
Miller said the project was a great example of why timber frame construction is more environmentally friendly than modern construction—it uses trees that would have gone to waste, and offers sturdier construction that will last longer.
He travels to Europe frequently and recently visited a building used to store hay to support the Crusades. Its construction is similar to Taylor’s barn, only it was built by Templars 900 years ago.
Miller said he has seen the industry grow rapidly from its beginnings in wealthy mountain communities years ago.
“When I started doing this 12 years ago, it was lifestyles of the rich and famous stuff,” he said.
Benjamin didn’t learn about timber framing in professional engineering school at Northern Arizona University, so he taught himself with books and courses on the side.
“I’d lay in bed at night and read it and tell my wife, ‘Hey, listen to this, isn’t this cool?’” he said with a laugh. “I love this kind of stuff.”
Benjamin, who wore a white ponytail and handlebar mustache under his red hard hat, spoke fondly of the project’s deeper meaning for the environment and emerging businesses like his own. He specializes in green, alternative home design and engineering.
“We want to help people design their green buildings, because it’s not just a buzzword anymore,” Benjamin said. “It is our children’s future.”
That’s what Taylor had in mind when he first conceived of the barn years ago.
His makes his home in the former Masonville School, which replaced the old Buffum School, built in 1866, after it burned down. The Masonville School was built in 1922 and used until the early 1960s, when Big Thompson Elementary School replaced it.
The family of settler David Thompson originally owned the land and donated it to the county for use as a school, but the deed said that after it ceased being used in that fashion, it would go back into private hands.
Taylor bought the property in 2001 and has created a lifestyle similar to that of his childhood growing up on a dairy farm in western New Jersey, not far from Amish country.
Taylor was 9 years old when his family’s barn burned down. The community rallied for an old-fashioned barn-raising, not unlike the one he re-created on Tuesday. The memory of that day stayed with Taylor for the next five decades, and he wants his grandchildren to have the same experience.
“My job as a grandpa is to create memories,” he said. “They can always come to this barn and feel like it’s part of their heritage.”
