The conversion of barns involves the conversion of old farming
barn
A barn is an agricultural building usually on farms and used for various purposes. In North America, a barn refers to structures that house livestock, including cattle and horses, as well as equipment and fodder, and often grain.Alle ...
s to structures of commercial or residential use.
Responsible residential conversion
According to the
United States National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...
, a medium-sized barn with sufficient extant windows where the internal volume can be near completely utilized can allow for a successful and historically responsible conversion of a barn.
[Auer, Michael J]
The Preservation of Historic Barns
Preservation Briefs, National Park Service, first published October 1989. Retrieved 7 February 2007.
Criticism
While not a new phenomenon
barn
A barn is an agricultural building usually on farms and used for various purposes. In North America, a barn refers to structures that house livestock, including cattle and horses, as well as equipment and fodder, and often grain.Alle ...
conversion became quite popular in the waning years of the 20th century. Changing a barn over from its historic agricultural use to residential use generally requires significant changes in the integrity of the barn and if the structure is of historic value these alterations rarely preserve the historic character of the barn.
[ As many older barn designs were relatively windowless one of the key additions in barn conversion for residential use is that of ]window
A window is an opening in a wall, door, roof, or vehicle that allows the exchange of light and may also allow the passage of sound and sometimes air. Modern windows are usually glazed or covered in some other transparent or translucent mat ...
s. For a barn to be comfortable as a home walls often have to be insulated and refinished and the interior volume of the space must be greatly reduced. Other residential details and fixtures are also added such as chimney
A chimney is an architectural ventilation structure made of masonry, clay or metal that isolates hot toxic exhaust gases or smoke produced by a boiler, stove, furnace, incinerator, or fireplace from human living areas. Chimneys are typ ...
s.[ The barn's site itself is often altered by the addition of close-in, driveway parking and residential ]landscaping
Landscaping refers to any activity that modifies the visible features of an area of land, including the following:
# Living elements, such as flora or fauna; or what is commonly called gardening, the art and craft of growing plants with a goal ...
. Some barn conversions go so far as to dismantle the entire original structure, discarding the exterior and simply reusing the internal structural supports on a new building.[
]
See also
*Cottage
A cottage, during Feudalism in England, England's feudal period, was the holding by a cottager (known as a cotter or ''bordar'') of a small house with enough garden to feed a family and in return for the cottage, the cottager had to provide ...
*Gîte
A gîte () is a type of accommodation that comes in a variety of forms, ranging from a gîtes d'etape, a hostel, for walkers and cyclists, to a gîte rural, a holiday home in the country available for rent, often an accessory dwelling unit. The t ...
*Housebarn
A housebarn (also house-barn or house barn) is a building that is a combination of a house and a barn under the same roof. Most types of housebarn also have room for livestock quarters. If the living quarters are only combined whith a byre, where ...
References
Conversion (barn)
The conversion of barns involves the conversion of old farming barns to structures of commercial or residential use.
Responsible residential conversion
According to the United States National Park Service, a medium-sized barn with sufficient extan ...
House types
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