And now, America. By the early 1600’s on this continent excellent timber frames were being built. Our virgin forests gave us long timbers that allowed structures to be fashioned without the short-timber splices and scarfs. The first-generation craftsman, being Guild trained, made excellent use of these long timbers. We can yet see examples of this work in New England and along the Atlantic seaboard.

Abundant timber and communal labor produced churches and barns, and homes, some of which still survive. Many more have been lost to the ravages of time and neglect, their builders forgotten. No wooden structure long survives once the roof is blown off.

The oldest surviving timber frame home in America is the Fairbanks House, built in 1637 in Dedham, Massachusetts. Wings have been added through the centuries and it is now a museum, but still owned by the Fairbanks family.

(Photo courtesy of Historic American Building’s Survey.)

A Depression Era project called the Historic American Buildings Survey documented many significant timber structures. Churches and barns played an important role in sustaining timber frame construction, requiring large timbers for long spans and lots of people for heavy lifting. No self-respecting farmer would build his home larger than his barn, and many of the barns were huge. This sentiment held into the 1950’s as evidenced by a New England farmer. The tale is told that only after the farmer had upgraded his milking parlor with hot water did he finally add running water to his home.

Let’s look at some of these American timber frames from an earlier time.

(Photo courtesy of Historic American Building’s Survey.)
(Photo courtesy of Historic American Building’s Survey.)
(Photos by Ken Rower) (Photos courtesy of Bruce and Cyndy Gardener, Homstead Timber Frames.)

Why did timber framing fade into disuse? Americans are in a hurry. We were in a hurry in 1630, in 1850, and we are still in a hurry in 2009. The guild system of training, that of slowly and patiently passing accumulated knowledge along, runs at cross-purposes to capitalism. In America, why should a young man apprentice himself to a master for a period of years with meager pay when land was his for the settling? Each succeeding generation of American craftsmen received ever less formal training and so built ever simpler buildings. The country came to call for the generalist rather than the specialist. One day a man might build a cupboard and the next day sow his wheat. America was becoming a mobile society and so a home was no longer built for one’s great-grandchildren, but merely to house the current occupants. Technology gave us sawmills, dimensioned lumber, long distance shipping, cheap nails, balloon framing, and now stud-wall framing. Today we sign a 30 year mortgage to lower our monthly payment, but know the corporation will move us in 5 to 7 years. What use do we have for a home that can live into the next new millennium? I will answer that question a little later this evening. But let’s first explore how a timber frame project develops.