Hi Craig;
I like buildings that have their "own history". My local historical society museum includes a barn which now houses part of the collections. Nothing could be better than a museum building that is also an artifact.
However, the Secretary of the Interior's standards strictly require a replacement building be true to the original in every way which can be determined so reusing another building is highly unlikely.
I did get to the bottom of the drastic change in styles of the barn mentioned above. The 1860s barn was a large hip roof barn like what the architect has planned. The gambrel barn which burned was from 1920. The timber framer who designed the replacement frame referenced the gambrel barn as the original which is an easy error to make. I was all excited for a while because a gambrel roof barn in Maine from the 1860 would be extremely progressive. I was hoping it was such an early example of a type which developed in the Mid-West around this time period. There were a few early timber framed gambrel roof barns in Massachusetts, but extremely rare and I do not know of a surviving example. Anyway, the professionals are professional, though I think it would be good to reference the drastic change of design such as "going back to the original 19th century design" so the general public can easily see the rational behind historic reconstructions.
Thanks;
Jim
