Grassroots Parnership

While all architectural details are not original, each was re-created from an historical element. Included were the window brackets, roof brackets, even the round window at the top level.

WOODSTOCK, VT. -- If height bothers you, or the prospect of huge timber structures "flying" from a 70-ton crane gives you the collywobbles, then the type of historical restoration done by Paul Cigal and David Berto won't be your cup of tea.

Recently, these hand-shake partners completed the part-by-part dismantling of a circa-1860 barn frame, its transportation by flat-bed tractor trailer truck, and its painstaking reassembly on a sunny hillside overlooking this popular mid-Vermont community.

Cigal and Berto have a warm history of their own. Paul is a home builder by profession, David a designer of nuclear power plants. The two collaborated to save a historic Connecticut mansion and continue to work together whenever a project materializes that logically could include Cigal's Chestnut Oak timber frame and historic preservation talents, along with Berto's Housing Enterprises capabilities.

Some months prior, Berto had been paging through The Bee's Antiques and The Arts Weekly and had seen an ad for a large timber-framed, post-and-beam barn in Granby, Conn. He immediately phoned Cigal, who lived but a few blocks away from the structure. The pair negotiated an option with the barn's owner, took an album-worth of photos detailing the four-story, 2,000 plus square footprint structure, and included it in their offerings at a restoration and renovation show in nearby Woodbury, Conn.

Enter dedicated architect, Mark Aldieri, ASIA, of Haddam Neck. A creative expert, skilled in the use of every weapon in the architectural conservator's design arsenal, Aldieri was engaged in a search project for an energetic, artistic couple planning a weekend home in Woodstock. "Do you have a barn that could be dismantled and reconstructed as a residence?" he wanted to know. "How big a barn?" was the answer.

Before long, Aldieri, Berto and Cigal found themselves in collaboration to show the Granby barn to the architect's discerning client. With dimensions of over 40 by 50 feet, a decorative cupola that in Mark's words is "big enough to live in," and in outstanding condition, the big frame structure was pronounced perfect and a deal was struck.

Cigal and Berto then began the painstaking process of dismantling. Initially scheduled for re-installation, the barn's 130-year-old, diamond patterned slate roof was hand-removed. Individual slates were carried to a central marshaling point and elevatored to skids on the ground.

With the roof off, it was necessary for dismantling to proceed quickly: a roofless structure immediately begins to fail if not protected. But un-pinning the oak-dowled mortise and tenon connections, between posts, beams and girts proved more difficult than it seemed it would at first.

"We discovered that many of the pegs were put in `blind'," noted Cigal. "That meant the holes had been drilled only just far enough to engage both mortised beam and tenon, but not right the way through. Had they been drilled through the pegs could have been `drifted' out with an iron pin and sledge. This way, the pegs had to be drilled out carefully, using a ship's auger and taking care than the bit didn't `wander' into the surrounding materials of the beam and post."

Originally, the client's finish contractor, David Anderson Hill, had suggested he do the dismantling with his own crew, in addition to the myriad details involved in making the barn a home.

Completely experienced as a former member of The Barn People, Hill was charged with creating all finish elements. Ultimately, he and his men earned kudos both from the professionals and his clients for the quality and creativity of their craft and execution.

But meanwhile, back at the barn, in consultation with the client and Hill, it was decided that Cigal and Berto should bring to bear their important sense of stewardship for the buildings in their trust and do both the dismantling and re-erecting of the frame.

Thus was created a purpose-built partnership of the architect, Mark Aldieri; his clients; the Chestnut Oak frame specialists; and David Anderson Hill as the final contractor.

With the barn pieces separated, identified to a detailed plan by an alpha-numeric system, and trucked to Vermont, it was almost time to begin the final re-assembly. In a coordinated effort, Aldieri had created his own set of minutely-detailed structural and decorative architectural renderings.

Those windows, for example, that could be saved were measured and duplicated as were a host of brackets and other architectural elements of the original barn.

All were integrated into a tasteful overall scheme that would take full advantage of the hillside site's air, light and stunning valley views. Even the unique cupola, "flown" down from the roof in Granby in one piece, would be a key part of the resurrected dwelling.

It took approximately 12 days, with one weekend off, to reassemble this massive jigsaw puzzle. "We only found one area where an unsupported beam had bowed," Berto recalled, and the re-assemblers were delighted to find their innovative method of strengthening and repair had been successful.

With the frame up, it fell to David Hill and his sub-contractors, working under Aldieri's overview, and with in-depth supervision and decision-making by the clients, to bring the barn back to life as a stunningly welcoming, practical yet beautiful, vacation home.

Among Mark Aldieri's many contributions was the adaptation of original decorative elements and windows into practical expressions of both form and function. Mark's windows have been totally integrated into the finished barn, bringing light and air to the building's lofty spaces. They were basic to the clients' ultimate satisfaction with the completed project.

From its radiant-heat main floor to its electrically controlled cupola windows, this recreated home combines liveability with artistic excellence. There presently is no way to access the cupola, which soars some 30 feet above the upper floor.

Nothing has been left unconsidered, nothing unused from the original agrarian structure. Even the erstwhile slate roofing, deemed impossible to re-install, has been adapted as flooring; it even retains its original diamond pattern on the main floor. Formerly-hinged doors have been pocketed at the suggestion of the client, too.

In all the Woodstock barn is the product of an amazing "grass roots" partnership effort involving the dismantlers, clients, architect and finish contractor, with the client.