When History Speaks

When WRJ Design principals discovered a log cabin beneath the siding of their newly purchased home, what ensued was a remodel challenge, which tied them to the history of Jackson Hole and Grand Teton National Park. The solution was realized with the help of both Ankeny Architecture and Design, and Jackson Contractors.

The great Moran log cabin round-up began in 1950, shortly after Truman expanded Grand Teton National Park, annexing both the land of the Jackson Hole National Monument and the 35,000 acres of John D. Rockefeller’s Snake River Land Company.

But then the park and Rockefeller had a log cabin problem: the land he’d amassed held a collection of old hunting residences that needed to be removed. He solved this by sending most of these structures to the campgrounds at Colter Bay, and the rest he offered up to the people of Jackson Hole.

And this is where the history lesson concludes and our story begins, with a note regarding one such cabin that found its way into town, which read:

“Klaus and Rush, Louise didn’t know the history of the cabin which was discovered in 1963 when the Hirschs added onto the garage … Louise had never heard that the cabin was moved from the former town of Moran although her father had told me it had ….”

Beneath the vinyl siding of the newly purchased ranch-style home at 415 Deloney, there existed a log cabin. And this note from a neighbor to the new homeowners, WRJ Design principals Klaus Baer and Rush Jenkins, was how they came to learn of the matter.

There had been plans for a remodel. Baer wanted a new kitchen, and Jenkins, a more fitting space for his beloved Steinway. And both men wanted a more dynamic entranceway and a sunroom to replace the back patio. For five years, they waited and pondered this predicament until, in 2020, in the quiet of Covid, they reached out to their like-minded aesthete and friend, architect Shawn Ankeny, of Ankeny Architecture and Design, who they’d enjoyed collaborating with on several previous projects.

“Klaus and I both hold a deep appreciation for history, for items with rich story and meaning, and the resurrection of this little cabin became a matter of personal responsibility for us.”

— Rush Jenkins

 
For a contractor, they brought in Daniel Hierro of Jackson Contractors, who they’d discovered fortuitously earlier that year. Hierro offered boundless skill sets, an easy demeanor, and a great team. Together, they began discussing the possibilities.

The first line of business was, what about this mysterious cabin? Was it salvageable? The time had arrived for them to take a peek beneath the siding. Fortunately, Hierro had worked on log cabins and knew what to look for, and what they found was a treasure worth preserving.

“Klaus and I both hold a deep appreciation for history, for items with rich story and meaning,” recounts Jenkins. “And the resurrection of this little cabin became a matter of personal responsibility for us.”

Indeed, Jenkins’s design philosophy has long emphasized the value of enriching one’s home with story, whether in the form of family heirlooms or treasures of a personal nature. His training at Sotheby’s in New York had only reinforced what he’d come to believe as the son of a long line of Idaho ranchers and farmers: the true value of things lies in their meaning.

And so, with the decision made to keep the cabin, the team went into action, driving around town studying other such historic structures, the proper care of the logs and chinking, and imagining the possibilities.

“This project was always evolving,” remembers Ankeny. “First, liberating the cabin, then figuring out how to mesh the pitches of the roofs, removing walls to improve the flow. So many times, a solution would present itself that could make the house more gracious, and so we’d change course right there. Daniel and his team were great with that.”

Beams were removed and ceilings raised. On one end, the house was lengthened, and on the other, a proper stone garage was added. And in a stroke of high art, Ankeny and Hierro created a three-sided sunroom experience with floor-to-ceiling windows that fully embraced Jenkins’s vision and allowed both his training as a landscape architect and Baer’s expertise as a gardener to shine through.

“With the sunroom completed, we seized the opportunity to landscape this beautiful new footpath through spruce trees, hosta, and ferns, winding from the backyard to a whole new fence and garden area. It all felt very much like home,” says Baer.

Recalls Hierro, “I think in the end, we moved or removed all but two walls, and I enjoyed the process. I think what was most satisfying was that, no matter the situation, Rush and Klaus were always choosing in favor of what was most beautiful. The house spoke, and we answered.”