While Legacy Barns is a new company founded by award-winning timberwright Tim Rau in 2024, its roots and inspiration go back centuries. Tim grew up working side by side with his grandfather on their 6th generation farm in rural New York state. Inspired at a young age by his grandfather’s passion for the timeless Dutch barns of their landscape, he set an early course to become one of the most experienced and accomplished timber craftsman in the world.

Tim’s work encompasses historic preservation of some of the oldest Dutch structures in NY and the reclamation and repurposing of historic Dutch and English barns throughout the US. With the launch of Legacy Barns, we offer the sale and restoration of a curated selection of historic barns, and full timberwright services from restoration on site, to resurrection on new ground, to the design and production of new timber frames using old techniques.

Legacy Barns’ center of operations is an expansive shop on the same historic farm where Tim crafted his first timber frame with his grandfather. The mountainside facilities offer spectacular views and allow for year round restoration of old barn frames and the crafting of the often enormous timbers of our Historically Precise Recreations.

Tim and his wife Amanda raise their three children, Maggie, Lilly and Colton in the small village of Altamont, where clients are welcome to come and experience the beauty and history and to see their future structures being crafted.