Old barns get new purpose

Gazette Staff

A bird's eye view from the top of the Baird large barn looking down on the hog barn, both of which are being dismantled and the wood re-purposed.

A portion of a red fir beam, from Baird farm barn constructed in the early 1900's, after sanding and clear varnish reveal the beauty of the wood hidden beneath more than 100 years of dirt.

One of the barns being dismantled at the Baird farm in the Union Center area in Whitman County by Pillars of Society Woodworks.

Above: The Dayton Bar Z Ranch heritage barn, c. 1900, to be re-built partly with wood from the Baird barns in Whitman County. At right: Beau Sabin of Pillars of Society Woodworks labors at on-site restoration of red fir beams from barns at the Baird farm.

Old barns are a lasting, visual representation of the rural farming heritage of Washington state. In 2007, a bill was passed creating the Washington State Heritage Barn Preservation Program within the Department of Archeology and Historic Preservation. One of the main goals of the program has been to provide a means for recognition of historically significant barns around the state through the Washington State Heritage Barn Registry. Barns which meet the criteria for Heritage status are registered and are eligible for Heritage Barn Preservation Fund Awards which can be used to stabilize, restore and preserve the structures.

However, even though a barn may be old enough (more than 50 years old), the age of the structure is only one of the many criteria that a barn must meet to be registered. It must possess other characteristics which may include its association with historical events or people; its shape, materials or architectural significance; or its use in period-significant agricultural innovation. In addition, a barn must be in a state of historically accurate preservation. Given that the primary purpose of a barn may have been its continued modern farm use, often old barns are altered to preserve their utility at the expense of losing their historical integrity.

All things considered, many old barns are not qualified for Heritage status, and the expense of simply stabilizing the structure for safety can be prohibitive.

So, when Dixie Baird Bird of Walla Walla assessed the barns on her Whitman County farmstead, which has been in her family since the early 1900's, and determined several would need to be removed, she found a creative alternative to demolition: Rick Nicely, founder of Pillars of Society Woodworks, LLC., and his business partner Beau Sabin.

“I read an article in the local paper here about Rick and company dismantling a barn,” said Bird on how she discovered the team.

Pillars of Society Woodworks, founded this January and based in Richland, was established on the principles of preservation and resource utilization. Both Nicely and Sabin have an evident sense of the significance of heritage and history, particularly in how they can use the ingenuity and resources of the past in our world now.

The team dismantles old wooden structures carefully, board-by-board. Every board, beam and shingle is handled as a potentially usable resource.

Occasionally they are taking a structure apart to rebuild it in a new location using the original materials, as with a current Civil War cabin project.

“Each piece is numbered and there are hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of photographs, depending on the job,” said Sabin. “It’s documented from start to finish.”

This kind of work requires both fastidiousness, a dedicated vision and follow-through, which are evident in every aspect of their work. Nicely remembers putting ideas for the company together as early as 1982 and had a firm conceptualization for Pillars seven years ago. Although he and Sabin have worked on projects together for around 15 years, they held off on founding the company until this year.

“We were planning and watching for the time to be right,” said Nicely. “And now everything has started coming together.”

A part of that process has included years of researching and studying the construction of old barns and buildings. The pair still spends time poring over copies of original architecture and carpentry texts.

“If you want to know how to take it apart, you have to know how it was put together,” said Nicely. “Whatever was state-of-the-art back then, we study that as if it were new info.”

Not only is this knowledge essential for the relocation of historic structures, but it is important for historical restoration projects, and this is where the Baird barns come in. Materials harvested from these barns can be used to bring other period-matched structures back to life. Nicely and Sabin are working to reconstruct a designated Heritage barn, owned by Dallas Dickinson at Bar Z Ranch near Dayton, for which some wood will need to be replaced, and they are hand-selecting materials from the concurrent Whitman County Baird barn dismantling for the project.

“We work with archeologists and historians in Washington state who approve the materials for historical accuracy,” said Nicely of the stringent requirements for materials used in Heritage barn refurbishment.

Although their biggest customers for wood right now are barns lacking pieces, even materials not used in historical rebuilds will find a purpose. Because of the care that Nicely and Sabin put into the dismantling, all the wood in the structures that can be salvaged, will be. Architects, custom home builders, retail specialty stores and antique dealers seek these beautiful, aged woods for furniture, accent walls, decorative pieces and mantels.

“We are finding new homes for the wood almost as fast as we can remove it,” said Sabin.

Nicely is firm in his belief that there are many assets in this country that we waste just by overlooking them, and that we should be using these if we want to see our country thrive again.

“Taking old stuff laying around and putting it to use again can be a big part of that,” said Nicely.

More information on the Heritage Barns of Washington, including the requirements and application materials for Heritage designation, can be found at:

http://www.dahp.wa. gov/heritage-barn-register

Pillars of Society Woodworks can be contacted by calling Rick Nicely at 509-847-8333 or through its Facebook page, which includes details of past and current projects.