How a Forgotten 19th Century Dairy Barn Was Turned Into an Enchanting Wyoming Home
It may only be a decade old, but this Jackson, Wyoming, home has a historical feel that helps it blend right into the Teton Valley landscape. That's because the main house is a resurrected 19th century dairy barn, which was moved, stone by stone, from Montana and reassembled on a former Wyoming cattle ranch.
"When I first saw that building sitting in a massive empty field with nothing else around it, I felt that it needed to re-established it with integrity," JLF Design Build Principal Paul Bertelli tells CountryLiving.com.
Bertelli knew just the client capable of truly appreciating such a find. "This was a client who loved design and architecture in every form," Bertelli says, "interiors, fine arts, decorative arts and architecture." So he called the eventual homeowner, who collects antiques, and told her he found the "ultimate antique" for her collection.
Incredibly, the clients had acquired property right where Snake River and Gros Ventre River meet, which was a perfect setting for the stone. And so, the idea of rebuilding the Montana dairy barn into a new Wyoming home, aptly christened "The Creamery," was born.
But Bertelli, the owners, and landscape architect Jim Verdone wanted to retain the integrity of the original structure, so they worked together for a year to design the new structure, complete with an authentic floor plan.
Within 20 months The Creamery was complete. The restored stone structure houses the kitchen, dining, living room, and loft space.
"The relic itself inspired a sense of responsibility to its origins," Bertelli explains. "This building in its existing form, with its scale and proportion, was much purer than any contemporary architectural solution we could have applied. Ultimately doing nothing at all was the genius of the architecture in this project."
A modern glass and steel walkway connects the dairy barn to the rest of the 7,919-square-foot main house: a salvaged stacked log cabin containing the entryway and mudroom.
The aged patina of the salvaged structure seamlessly merges with modern design and echoes the natural beauty of the mountains, sky, and water of the homestead. A detached wooden boathouse sits on the water.
An ancient aquifer was utilized for The Creamery's water features.
The property also boasts a guest house made of stones reclaimed from a 17th century Yorkshire estate as well as timbers from old structures throughout the Rocky Mountains.
"What's most important in this case is the love of the art form and the joy of the design-build process," Bertelli notes. "It's not about building and selling, it's about having the opportunity to have this in your life."
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