With the help of a barn preservation company, a Princeton couple are combining two seemingly contradictory goals, adding living space on the property of their very old stone house while preserving the site’s historic integrity.
By: Jessica Demetriou
With the help of a barn preservation company, a Princeton couple are combining two seemingly contradictory goals, adding living space on the property of their very old stone house while preserving the site’s historic integrity.
Mark and Brown Little of Winant Road sought the assistance of the New Jersey Barn Co. after deciding to do something about the limited space of their home, which they believe may date back as far as 1690.
"We got the idea from the people who formerly owned the house," Mr. Little said. "The former owners were working on making a replica of an old barn, so they gave us the plans that they had worked on but never completed."
Mr. Little said that their house is probably one of the oldest in Princeton, so when he and his wife decided to expand, they knew they didn’t want to attach a modern addition to the house.
"We didn’t attach the barn to our house because our house is older and has beautiful stone walls that we didn’t want to knock out," Mr. Little said.
When Mr. Little contacted the New Jersey Barn Co. to see about following through with the project, he learned that employees had just taken one down that would fit nicely on his property.
"I called the barn company and they had just taken one down in Ringoes that they thought would work for us," he said.
It took the couple about three years to get all the necessary approvals for the barn addition, which will be a freestanding building about 50 feet from the original house.
"We had a lot of help from the HPC (Historic Preservation Commission), Princeton Township zoning, and the New Jersey Barn Co.," Mr. Little said. "We were lucky enough to have people who lived in this house before us who established the relationship with the New Jersey Barn Co."
Elric Endersby and Alexander Greenwood are co-owners of the New Jersey Barn Co., which has been in business for about 30 years.
"What we attempt to do is save threatened structures by documenting, disassembling, and relocating the buildings onto more sympathetic sites," Mr. Endersby said.
He said that the Littles’ barn was actually a wagon house, which was owned by the Holcombe family in Ringoes and appears on maps dating from 1860. He said the New Jersey Barn Co. came in three years ago to disassemble it from a working farm.
"It’s fairly small and has a fairly low profile," Mr. Endersby said. "It satisfies the hierarchy of buildings that would have been found on 18th-century properties."
When the New Jersey Barn Co. saw that this particular structure would be destroyed because of development, it stepped in and removed it, rather than let it be bulldozed. From there, employees took the timbers to their shop in Ringoes to make necessary repairs.
"The actual conversion of the building is being performed by Pinneo Construction," Mr. Endersby said. "We have worked with them on a number of projects and are lucky to work with people who share our enthusiasm and complement our expertise."
Mr. Endersby said that the building on the Littles’ property would complement the house and other surviving buildings in the area, which are some of the oldest in Princeton.
"We like to think that we’re helping to preserve Princeton’s history by adding a little bit to it," Mr. Endersby said.
Mr. Little said that once the barn is completed, it will have multiple uses, such as a playroom, library, and study. He said that opting to rebuild the structure for extra space was very feasible and "another option that people might not know about."
More information on the New Jersey Barn Company can be found at www.njbarnco.com or by calling (908) 782-8896.
