NEWFIELD, N.Y. (WENY) -- A big piece of Tompkins County history is getting another chance to shine. The '1883 Barn' in Newfield was officially sold back in August and the new owner is sharing what the next steps for the historic building are.
Seth Adams, a local property manager and developer who focuses on historic preservation as well as the owner of Warner's Way Real Property Services has already completed several restoration projects in cities like Ithaca, Elmira, and Corning. Adams specializes in mixed-use projects, meaning both residential and commercial.
WENY News previously reported on one of Adams' projects in Elmira back in 2018, the apartments at the historic Werdenberg Building in Elmira.
Years later, this big project is just getting started and Adams says it's the first timber frame structure he and his team have worked on.
If you've ever driven on Route 13 in Tompkins County, you may have seen the '1883 Barn' at 2981 Elmira Road in Newfield. The property went to Tompkins County tax foreclosure auction in June of 2024. Adams officially purchased the building in August.
Adams says he is from Western New York but moved away from the area for many years. In 2007, he was drawn to come back to the area and has lived and worked here ever since.
"I've driven by this building, like so many in the area you know, for the past 17 years myself, since moving the area, and to have it come up for sale recently is just a bit of a dream come true," said Adams.
The 141-year-old barn has seen some wear and tear over the years but the structure remains mostly intact, Adams says. He gave a tour of the building to WENY News on Friday morning.
Photo Credit: Seth Adams/Constance Saltonstall
The structure began as a hay barn in 1883 in the farming valley of 'Poney Hollow' in Newfield.
In 1965, the barn was purchased by world-renowned artists Constance Saltonstall and Victoria Romanoff who transformed it into a living and working space where they hosted art exhibitions. The most notable one being “Giddy-up Napoleon, It Looks Like Rain: A Look at Farming in Tompkins County,” a 1976 tribute to Saltonstall’s father.
The pair's additions to the barn can still be seen in wall installations made of various metals and woods, appearing as a collage of sorts.
From 1988 to 2000, ownership changed to someone named JoAnn Brandes and the barn housed a country market for a short time in the 1990s. Since 2000, the barn has been left untouched.
Inside the barn, you can see evidence of the market room, what appears to be an office and a small kitchen. The loft area upstairs can be accessed by a ladder and served as a bedroom at one point. Underneath the barn near the foundation used to serve as studios and workspaces during Saltonstall and Romanoff's time of ownership.
"Well, it looks like a basket case at the moment," said Adams. "From the foundation all the way to the top, the windows have been busted out for over 24 years, so it is, you know, very unloved inside, and our goal, of course, over the next year is to get it cleaned up and start that process of looking at what its uses can be."
Before the process of cleaning and renovations gets going, Adams is trying to get the barn approved for the national register through the National Park Service and State Historic Preservation Officers (SHPOs). He says he aims to pitch the period of significance as 1965 to 1977, Saltonstall and Romanoff's time.
The timeline for that application and approval process will roughly take a few months, Adams says. He adds that they hope to have things settled by the end of April or May so they can get started in the summertime.
"I think that the most important thing is that we preserve the history of the barn, tell the story of the barn itself," said Adams. "Let the barn tell its story. Our job is to preserve and bring to the public, make them understand its history, and celebrate it along with us. It was quite well-known in the arts community for a long time. We would like to see a part of that, a part of what we do with it, going forward, to bring that back to life, that aspect of the arts. I see the whole, the property as a whole. In other words, this barn is only one aspect of what we will ultimately plan to do with the whole property. So a mixture of uses is quite likely."
If all goes according to plan, he and his team are aiming to have the project completed by mid to late 2026. While he is unsure what exactly the '1883 Barn' will become, he knows it will require a lot of work on a relatively intact structure.
WENY News will continue to follow the progression of the '1883 Barn' as plans move forward.