Jun 12 at 12:00 PM - Sale 2708 -
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Sale 2708 - Lot 23

Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500
(ARCHITECTURE.) John Talcott Wells. Pair of his famed truss barn designs--including his very first. Two items, 34 x 24½ inches and 16 x 15 inches, as described below. Scottsville, NY, 1887 and undated
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Additional Details

John Talcott Wells (1843-1932) of Scottsville, NY patented the "Wells Truss System for Buildings or Bridges" in 1889. His firm J.T. Wells & Sons built about 100 barns from the 1880s to the early 1940s using his innovative truss design. Many of them are still standing today. They have inspired a PBS documentary, "Still Standing: The Barns of J.T. Wells & Sons"; and a website, wellsbarnhistory.com.

Offered here are two original Wells designs. One is a design for a generic "Typica Cross Section of Truss Bent," 16 x 15 inches, drawn in ink on architectural drafting linen, signed by Wells.

The other is 34 x 24½ inches, in ink on heavy paper, rolled into a scroll and mounted on two original 27-inch wooden dowels; it is moderately worn with several chips and short closed tears, none affecting the text or drawing. The original ink caption reads simply "Scale one half inch to the foot, J.T. Wells, Arct. & Builder." Next to that, penciled lightly in the hand of Wells, is "This is the first truss that I built. J.T. Wells, 1887." Above the barn profile are some diagonal lines which make little sense at first glance. They are full-sized templates for joint angles, captioned lightly in pencil: "Full size, 12" to the foot. Cut this out, it would fit" and "Rafter, full size."

We trace no other John Talcott Wells designs in OCLC or at auction. Provenance: found in a barn in Scottsville, NY and sold to the consignor.

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