Filson Brings a Barn to Manhattan for Newest Flagship

SUFFICE IT TO SAY that barn-raisings are rare in midtown Manhattan. But one such undertaking – albeit with a distinctly modern twist – recently took place in a 4000-square-foot, 1800s-era brownstone on Broadway near Union Square. There, specialty retailer Filson (Seattle) – a 124-year-old maker and seller of men’s and women’s outdoor clothing, accessories and luggage – opened a flagship store whose interior incorporates major structural elements of a rustic barn.

Artifacts and other unusual elements bring the rugged Pacific Northwest to Manhattan in Filson’s new flagship.

The idea, designers say, was to create an authentic, old-fashioned feel that’s true to the retailer’s geographic and historic roots.

“Filson was founded in 1897 to meet the needs of prospectors traveling through Seattle on their way to the Klondike Gold Rush, which means it is intrinsically tied to the history of the Pacific Northwest,” says Mike Mora, Co-founder and Principal at Heliotrope Architects (New York), which worked with Filson’s in-house design team to imagine the space. “That meant our focus was to create a retail space that shared the same level of quality and integrity as Filson’s product line.”

And that, in turn, started with an abandoned barn in Oregon that the designers found for sale online, says Mora.

“We dismantled it and shipped the rough-hewn wood siding, posts and beams to Nelson, British Columbia, home of Spearhead, a specialty fabricator and one of our partners,” he says. “Using this salvaged material, we conceived of a post-and-beam ‘barn interior’ that we constructed inside the store’s double-height main space.”

An abandoned barn relocated from its original home in Oregon makes up the store’s post-and-beam interior.

Housed within this framework, Mora explains, are custom, solid fir and painted wood display cabinets to showcase the men’s product lines. Mounted to the post-and-beam salvaged wood structure above is a gallery of artifacts, hunting decoys, canoe shells, logging equipment, vintage images and maps that evoke the qualities of a Darius Kinsey photograph. (Kinsey photographed the logging industry in the Pacific Northwest from the turn of the 20th century until the 1940s.)

The women’s product line is located on the mezzanine level, which designers conceived of as the sitting room of an old-fashioned house. A half-round, built-in sofa and chunky wood coffee table piled with books provides a moment of shopping respite. The mezzanine ceilings are coffered in painted wood and smoked-mirror glass, while the floors are salvaged pine.

“In contrast to the volume of the first floor, the mezzanine is more intimate, with a lower ceiling that allows guests to get closer to the merchandise,” says Mora. “It also offers an overlook of the barn structure, which builds upon the overall goal of immersing guests in an environment that evokes Filson’s Northwest roots.”.