The Story Behind the Red Barn in Historic Southwest Rochester
June 24th, 2021 | by nfleming | Posted in General | #client testimonial, #custom home, #historic southwest, #red barn, #renovate, #Rochester, #rochester mn, #testimonial
AFTER DEALING IN EXCLUSIVELY NEW CONSTRUCTION FOR YEARS, IT’S BEEN VERY REWARDING TO GET OUR FEET WET IN THE ART OF REMODELING — KEEPING THE INITIAL CHARM OF A HOME INTACT, WHILE MODERNIZING IT AND MAKING THE SPACE FRESH AND NEW FOR OUR CLIENTS. WE’RE PROUD OF THE PROJECTS WE’VE FINISHED SO FAR, AND WE BELIEVE OUR CLIENTS ARE TOO — BUT YOU DON’T HAVE TO TAKE OUR WORD FOR IT.
About a year ago, Chandra Shenoy moved into a home in Rochester’s Historic Southwest neighborhood that we affectionately call “The Red Barn.” It was a dream realized for Chandra, who took a liking to the neighborhood as soon as she saw it for the first time.
“I had always wanted to live in this area after I started going for runs through Soldiers Field Park along the Rochester trails, and discovered its charm,” said Chandra.
The Red Barn has a fantastic backstory: it was originally built in 1927 for Newton Holland, the namesake of Newt’s restaurant and man behind the beautification project that planted our beautiful downtown boulevard trees. Harold Crawford designed the home – he’s a notable Rochester architect that designed Mayowood, the old Rochester Public Library (now part of the Mayo Medical School) and hundreds of other homes on “Pill Hill.”
A house with so much history deserves to age gracefully and look great, and Chandra knew she would be the one to make it happen when the house appeared on the market as a fixer-upper in early 2019.
“I found the house through my Realtor, and knew I had to move fast,” Chandra says.
We helped Chandra remodel the kitchen, dining room, living room, the upstairs bathroom and both bedrooms, fireplace, workout room, and added a half bath downstairs — almost every inch of the 768 square-foot interior!
All of this was done while she was working full-time, so she had to rely on our team — and the Buildertrend app — to keep things organized and on schedule.
“Having design assistance, planning and architecture assistance, and contracting assistance was huge to keep the stress manageable during this project,” Chandra says. “Having a calendar available was great. It was well-organized and kept all the moving pieces in one place.”
Since moving in late 2019, Chandra’s fully settled into the “house that Newton & Harold built,” and it’s working out perfectly — the house has its original charm, but we added a modern flair that makes this a one-of-a-kind project. We were incredibly proud to work on a house with so much history, and we’re glad to say that Chandra enjoyed having us bring her vision to life.
“Everybody at R. Fleming Construction was so great to work with!” said Chandra. “Bob and Jason were so knowledgeable and easygoing, and the whole thing was so organized. I even came in under budget. I would definitely recommend R. Fleming Construction to anyone!”