"The Barn Builder"

By Herb Morton
The Merrimack Journal, 8/97

Late this spring I was invited up to Dunstable by Bob Frye to watch him and his crew set a cupola on a new barn he had built across the road from his home on Pleasant Street. I had been watching the progress of this barn building, and judging by the larger barn he had built next to the house some years earlier, I knew it would be a nice one.

Rather than build the cupola right on the bar, Bob built it on the ground, and I arrived just as it was being lifted into place with a crane. To me, the only sure way to have the thing fit correctly would have been to build it right in place, but Bob knew his trade better than I. As the completed dome was lifted and set on the roof, it wasn't fitting properly. It was lowered to the ground, a brace was removed, and a small cut was made up on the roof.

Again the heavy dome was lifted into place, and this time it sat perfectly into place as neatly and cleanly as a piece to a jigsaw puzzle. It was the finishing touch to an excellent piece of architecture. Walking around inside on of Bob's barns make you want one of your own. The rough-sawn wood and bracing which suggests the old motise and tennon joints of centuries past gives the buildings the feel of barns that were built here long ago. If not for the newness of the wood you might feel as if these barns were very old.

Of course barns mean different things to different people. A good many of the barns we grew up with seemed solid enough, though often sagging here and there, and leaning one way just enough to make it noticeable. Bob Fry's barns are so solid and straight they look as if they could be picked up in one piece.

Bob has built ten or more barns in surrounding communities in past years, many of them in Dunstable. Once you see one of his barns, it's easy to pick out others he has built, from small ones large enough to house a couple of cars or tractors to large ones reminiscent of the behemoth hay barns which are slowly disappearing with the passing of years. Much of his work, though, is out of sight of passers-by, at the ends of long private driveways.

Many of us have walked by an antique car, a boat, a motorcycle or some other "toy" and just dreamed of having one. That's how a person feels when they check out of one Bob's custom barns. Every one of them is different and as personal as the owner wants it. In his latest, for example, a large stained glass window on the top floor of the east wall throws variegated light on the floor below when the morning sun appears. The window is a relic of a house he once owned in Lowell.

Other old pieces of hardware are the rail and wheels of the front barn door taken from a barn that was dismantled. Usually barn doors once hung on the rail located at the top of the door. A bottom-rolling door was rare when top-rollers were common. Each bit of such hardware makes every barn unique, and both Bob and the barn owner feels good when some piece of hardware destined to be thrown away can serve a purpose again.

Mr. Frye often uses concrete for both safety and building integrity when casting his barn foundations, but is not averse to using original granite pieces for aesthetic authenticity. Many are built with drive-in space on the bottom level and a floor able to support such weight on the main floor as well. Lofts or a second floor see that all barns' volume can be put to use. Many have had finished offices built into one corner or on the upper levels.

In this day when many of our old barns are being neglected and caving in, or being razed to make room for housing developments, it is nice to see the art of designing and building them is being kept alive. Check out one of his barns if you ever get the chance, but be careful, you're going to want one of your own.

Other Articles that feature Robert Frye's Work