Still Standing: The Barns of J.T. Wells & Sons creatively explores ways that remaining barns can regain their relevance through adaptive reuse while fostering community engagement in their preservation before these barns disappear from the landscape entirely due to development, decay, and obsolescence. The film introduces viewers to six Wells Barns and their owners. Nathan Ruekberg, a fifth-generation farmer, and his wife, Hannah own one of the earliest Wells barns, built in 1892. The second barn, formerly known as the Avon Century Barn, is owned by Sandy Howlett and Melissa Stanton, a dynamic mother-daughter business team who have transformed their Wells barn into a wedding venue. The third barn, situated on the campus of the Rochester Institute of Technology, has been adapted into a rock-climbing gym. The fourth barn is owned by Gillian Conde who transformed it into a one-of-a-kind home that she shares with Jean Dombroski and their menagerie of animals. The final story features two barns that were relocated by their passionate owners Jennifer and Jerry Hall. Breaking away from post and beam construction, John Talcott Wells, Sr. defied barn-building tradition to create an ingenious truss system - patented trusses (1889) specifically designed to balance outward and inward forces while creating soaring, open interior storage spaces for hay and grain. Historically significant in terms of their agricultural origins and their architectural artistry, Wells barns stand as physical testaments to the ingenuity of the master and family that built them.
Broadcast In: English Duration: 1:26:46