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Activist saves historic Briarcliff Manor barn from wrecking ball

A historic barn in Briarcliff Manor was saved from demolition and will soon have a new address, outside of New York. The barn dates back to the 1870s and was once the centerpiece of a 3,000-acre dairy

News 12 Staff

Dec 28, 2006, 10:51 PM

Updated 6,567 days ago

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A historic barn in Briarcliff Manor was saved from demolition and will soon have a new address, outside of New York.
The barn dates back to the 1870s and was once the centerpiece of a 3,000-acre dairy farm. It was scheduled to be demolished at the end of the year to make room for new homes. When Jamie Martorano found out about the barn?s fate, he struck a deal with the developer to preserve it.
Martorano says every plank of the old barn is a link to Westchester?s past. Carpentry historian Peter Haarmann says the building?s intricate design and timber frame construction are signs of craftsmanship that just can't be found today. For the past six weeks, Martorano has been tagging and documenting each piece of the structure. He plans to reconstruct the barn in Vermont, with improvements like modern insulation and electricity, sometime this summer. Martorano says he hopes that generations to come will get a chance to appreciate and learn from the historic structure.