Buris restore 1919 barn under state historic program

The 1919 barn creaks in the steady blow of the Palouse wind. Wind rushes through its corridors, blowing across old shingles, wheat grinders, 1950s era dairy stalls and an original hay cradle dangling high above the loft. Outside sits a stack of new cedar shingles.

The barn on the Colfax -Palouse highway just east of Colfax is a 1919 Gothic style relic, which is listed on the state’s historic register.

For the past year, David and Becky Buri have been restoring the aging structure with stabilizing cables and a new roof of cedar shingles. They’ll soon install the original windows and doors of the second floor.

“You’ve got to keep the historical character,” said David Buri in an interview with the Gazette July 13.

The state historic register awarded the Buris a $24,300 match grant in February to restore the barn.

The barn is now registered on the state heritage barn register, a program of the state department of archaeology and historic preservation.

There are 33 barns in Whitman County on the register, part of 422 total designated heritage barns in the state.

“It’s just as iconic structure given its proximity to the road right there…What’s nice about it being in such close proximity to the road is you can really get a sense of how a farm complex sort of derived over time,” said Chris Moore, field director with the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation.

Because the state’s grant must be matched with labor in an amount equal to the grant, the Buris are now working to pay off their matching $24,300 portion of the grant (at a rate of $15 an hour).

“Every nail I’m pulling out was hand-driven,” David Buri said.

Using a lattice and a safety harness, Buri last month scaled the roof of the barn for the first time. He climbs out to the roof using a small square hole in the roof, then climbs up by crawling up the existing purlin beams in a roof support structure.

The first time he scaled the roof “it was very scary,” he said with a laugh. “I got all harnessed up and just got up there and started popping off shingles.”

He had to learn how to work on the two cupolas at the top of the building and also how to rappel back down the roof, which stands about 60 feet high.

Last week, he began tearing off the old wood shingles, many of which were the originals placed in 1919.

“This was made in the days when work was done with horses,” he said.

The Buris bought the property, which also includes a farm house and shed from the same period, in 2006.

Before the Buris, Steve and Karen Swoope owned the property and before them, Paul Cocking. Before Cocking, the property was owned by the Heidenreich family who operated a dairy.

To shingle the roof, Buri ordered $7,000 worth of cedar shingles to cover 6,000 to 6,500 square feet.

Tuesday, he was prying off old shingles and throwing them into the yard. He plans on putting two nails per cedar shingle when he begins putting on the new roof.

The barn still holds relics of the past decades of farming. On the stairwell is nailed a collection of leather tack.

An old case he found in the loft still holds Gazette newspapers from the 1950s and 1960s.

“Whitman County has a real treasure in these barns,” Buri said.

Once he and Becky have fixed the roof, they plan on installing the windows and doors. Earlier in the year, he ran three thick cables the width of the barn and winched them tightly. Their pull helped stabilize the entire structure, which he said was slowly beginning to lean.

When asked how he felt about restoring the old barn, Buri said he felt he was walking in the footsteps of previous generations and carrying on their work for the next generation.

“So when my kids and grandkids drive by, they can say, ‘Hey, Dad was crazy enough to get this ready for the next generation,’” he said.