How They Pulled It Off: Converting a Medieval Barn Into a Home—Without Breaking Preservation Code

A couple tasked a transatlantic team of designers with making a nearly windowless space feel like a loft while steering clear of its thick limestone walls.

How They Pulled It Off: Converting a Medieval Barn Into a Home—Without Breaking Preservation Code

A couple tasked a transatlantic team of designers with making a nearly windowless space feel like a loft while steering clear of its thick limestone walls.

Welcome to How They Pulled It Off, where we take a close look at one particularly challenging aspect of a home design and get the nitty-gritty details about how it became a reality.

When Larry and Denise Grimes first visited Noyers, France, they did what tourists to the medieval village in Burgundy generally do, and visited the remains of the hilltop Château de Noyers. They so liked the "medieval StairMaster"—their shorthand for the 300-step ascent—and everything else about Noyers, that, in 2013, they decided to move there part-time. At the time, they lived in a loft in Portland, Oregon, and wanted a similarly open space for their home overseas, which, given the local housing stock, wasn’t an option.

The exterior of the home retains much of its charm and conceals a surprisingly modern home within its walls.

The exterior of the Noyers, France, home retains much of its charm and conceals a surprisingly modern home within its walls. 

Larry Grimes

So, the couple bought a 16th-century barn, the best approximation they could find of a single-room residence, one that they could treat as a blank canvas for a year-round home. The limestone building was roughly 818 square feet, with high ceilings trussed with hewn oak beams, and a few drawbacks that wouldn’t have been much of an issue for the previous, largely bovine, inhabitants: no plumbing, sewer, heat, electricity, or internet, and virtually no natural light. The barn’s primary openings were doors, including a hayloft door and a roughly 10-foot-wide arched entry, through which carriages once presumably passed.

The catwalk that spans across the width of the space leads to the bedroom.

The catwalk that spans across the width of the space leads to the bedroom. 

Larry Grimes

The view from the main living space shows how the architects were able to retain the original walls and beams.

The view from the main living space shows how the architects were able to retain the barn’s original walls and beams. 

Larry Grimes

See the full story on Dwell.com: How They Pulled It Off: Converting a Medieval Barn Into a Home—Without Breaking Preservation Code
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