PUTNEY, Vt. – The Landmark Trust USA (LTUSA) invites the community to learn more about one of our region’s most distinctive architectural typologies, one that many northern New Englanders call home: the connected farm building.
On Tuesday, May 14, at 7 p.m., LTUSA will host noted scholar and vernacular architecture historian Thomas C. Hubka to speak on his seminal book “Big House, Little House, Back House, Barn.” The lively and informative presentation will take place at Next Stage Arts, 15 Kimball Hill in Putney, Vt., and will be simultaneously livestreamed online.
The book, which received the Abbot Lowell Cummings Award from the Vernacular Architecture Forum, has been in continuous publication for 40 years, and has become a scholarly and popular standard for New England architectural history and cultural studies. This engaging talk will highlight the four essential components of the stately and beautiful connected farm buildings made by 19th century New Englanders, that stand today as a living expression of a rural culture, offering insights into the people who made them and their agricultural way of life. It will feature numerous local examples, as well as The Landmark Trust USA’s Amos Brown House. Books will be available for purchase and signing.
“May is Preservation Month, and these special buildings are an important part of our architectural and cultural heritage in northern New England, unique to our region,” says executive director Susan McMahon. “Whether you live in a connected farm building, or have just noticed them while driving along New England back roads, this talk will provide a new appreciation for why they’re here and what they say about us as a people.”
This program is supported in part by Vermont Humanities, with space provided by Next Stage.
For more information and to register for the livestream, visit www.landmarktrustusa.org/events. No registration is required to attend in person at Next Stage.