A barn to call home

By Elise Franco

Man turns $1,000 deal into $750,000 fortune

The Canfield resident worked for nearly a decade to restore a piece of local history.

CANFIELD — Jim Cantelupe purchased a historic barn for $1,000 with the intent to move and revamp it, ultimately saving it from demolition.

Nearly 10 years later, the Canfield Township man moved the barn from the former Kentzel Farm on Lisbon Road to a parcel just off Calla Road. He rebuilt the barn into a house that is worth more than $750,000.

Enid Feicht, 77, of Greenford said she was stunned to hear her father Harry Kentzel’s old barn was worth so much money.

“Oh, heavens, is that right?” she said. “He [her father] purchased that barn and 91 acres of property from the Cook family in 1953. He only paid $20,000.”

Back in 1999, Cantelupe said he was approached by real estate developer Robin Best and asked if he was interested in buying the structure.

“She contacted me because she wanted to develop on the Lisbon Road property,” he said. “I didn’t want to see it torn down.”

Cantelupe said his interest in the barn dates back to when he was a child.

“It was always an interest of mine since I was a little kid,” he said. “I always saw the barn on Lisbon Road on my way to church when I was younger.”

Feicht said she knew Cantelupe through church and was happy when he decided to buy the structure.

Once Cantelupe purchased the barn, he said he enlisted his entire family to help with the dismantling and rebuilding project.

“It was kind of a family project, and everyone in the community knew that we did it,” he said. “My kids were involved and did a lot of the work.”

Cantelupe said his children, Cory, 21, and Nicole, 23, were pre-teens during the major phases of the rebuilding, but that didn’t stop them from getting involved.

“From dismantling, to pressure washing to moving wood — they were involved,” he said.

Cantelupe, whose day job is in research and development for a chemical company, said he’s been dismantling and restoring barns since 1978 and loves the history behind each structure he brings down.

“The amount of craftsmanship that has gone into all the different types of work is amazing,” he said. The oldest barn-building techniques “basically came from Europe, and I just find the amount of labor put into developing a system that’s built solely out of trees fascinating.”

The craftsmanship wasn’t the only historically interesting aspect of the now-5,000-square-foot house, however.

Cantelupe said he was told the Kentzel Farm dates back to the time of Thomas Jefferson. “I heard he had a hand in it somehow,” he said.

Feicht said she’s not sure exactly when the barn was built because she doesn’t have the deed, but she had also heard rumors of the country’s third president coming to town.

“My sister just told me that she thinks the whole area was surveyed by Thomas Jefferson at some point,” she said.

Regardless of the history, it’s certain the barn has a future.

Cantelupe is now finished with the project, a rustic-looking house that rests on five acres. The outside is painted white, but he assures it only adds to the barn feel.

Inside, the wide-open living and dining area shows off Cantelupe’s detailed woodwork.

“There has to be at least three times the wood in here than in a conventional home,” he said. “I wish I had all the time it would take to make [the house] perfect.”

Cantelupe said his favorite part of the home is a 1,000-square-foot log cabin he built in the backyard.

“It is just darling,” he said. “It was always sort of something I wanted growing up — to have a little, cozy log cabin in the backyard.”

He said now that his children are grown, the house, which has two kitchens, two living rooms, seven bedrooms, four full baths and two fireplaces, is a bit too big for only one person.

Justin Campbell, 29, formerly of Canton, said he and his wife, Danielle, looked at several houses before finding Cantelupe’s.

“To see a house with wood, and to see the nails in the wood, for it to look so rough, and still look so much more put together than all the others ... I have yet to find anything I don’t love,” Campbell said.

He said it didn’t take long for him to want to rent the house.

“You can look in any direction and see something. It’s a vision he’s put together. It speaks for itself,” Campbell said. “As soon as I walked into the garage, I was sold.”

Although Cantelupe no longer lives in the house, he can still keep an eye on it.

He now lives in the house next door that he fixed up to resemble a Cape Cod-style home and said he’s sure more barn renovations are in his future.

“I find that God makes all my plans for me. He seems to provide me with projects I don’t even really see coming,” Cantelupe said. “I certainly enjoy it and have a great passion for it.”

efranco@vindy.com