Double B Ranch
Texas Hill Country
Spanning 475 acres, the Double B Ranch is located in the heart of the Texas Hill Country and home to the largest collection of rare, historically-significant, restored antique barns in the country. These centuries-old barns — some pre-revolutionary — were strategically culled from the top one percent of salvageable barns, with lineage from the most sought-after examples of early functional barn architecture. Each barn was reconstructed by hand by their team of specialist craftsmen, blacksmiths, stone masons, and artisans strategically concealing 21st century materials and technology into the walls while keeping the character of the original structures intact.
The Lodge, one of two homesteads on the ranch, has been carefully renovated to scrub spaces from the cliché Texas ranch and infused with a modern sophistication, updated finishes and systems, as well as the personality of their owners who have a deep affinity for the rugged landscape of the area. As the primary gathering spot on the ranch for large family retreats, the Lodge functions as ranch headquarters.
Originally built in 1865 in Bluffton, Ohio, the timber framed barn is structured with hand-hewn beams and anchored by a three-story silo that was originally constructed from an early 1920s water storage tank. The interior of the silo houses bedroom suites on two levels, with the uppermost level enjoying a double-height exposed wood rotunda. Interior walls of the silo are clad with limewashed antique brick and accented by exposed timber and blackened steel paneling.
Flanked by deep covered porches, the great room is grand in proportion along with the enormous stone fireplace made of hand worked native rock quarried from the ranch. A dining area and full bar, sit below a primary bedroom loft that looks over the great room. Existing barnwood paneling and ebonized wide plank oak floors are contrasted with light veneer plaster and crisp blackened steel details throughout.
Each space is connected to operable windows to harness the prevailing breeze and views to longhorn and exotic game grazing the surrounding pastures. Site-quarried limestone and Poplar tree bark shingle siding will naturally patina, and over time, will reflect the color palette of the natural stone outcroppings and dried wood on the ranch, leading to the kind of natural honesty seen in many rural ranch structures.
