Those Grain Silos Are
for Living In, Too
A contemporary look at silo homes, published during the decade The Silo was built.
Read the 1973 article ↗The Silo Story · Amherst, MassachusettsA different
A different
idea of home.
A wooden circle. An open loft. A place with a story that began in the 1970s.
Discover the story ↓
An idea that made headlinesAn unconventional idea.
An unconventional idea.
National attention.
In the 1970s, the familiar wooden silo offered a different way to imagine a house.
In November 1973, The New York Times explored an unexpected vision of home in “Those Grain Silos Are for Living In, Too.” The familiar silhouette of the countryside was finding a new purpose—a place to live, with curved walls, warm wood and room to imagine life a little differently.
In the 1970s, the familiar silhouette of a farm silo took an unexpected turn. Unadilla began selling prefabricated wooden silo kits not for grain, but for people to live in.
A closer look at the silo-home movement
The idea caught on. By 1977, roughly 100 silo homes had been built across 15 states. Some stood on their own; others were attached to conventional houses. Inside, owners could design the circular space almost any way they wanted.
And the timing was no accident. With energy costs soaring during the 1970s energy crisis, the compact circular form had another intriguing advantage: less exterior surface area for its interior volume could mean less space exposed to winter cold.
The construction itself remained wonderfully true to the silo’s agricultural roots—vertical wood staves wrapped tightly with steel hoops. A centuries-old way of storing grain had suddenly become an experiment in how Americans might live.
And The Silo in Amherst was part of that experiment.
From the archives · Two accounts of the wider silo-home movement.
Those Grain Silos Are
Build Yourself
a Silo House
Unadilla’s wooden home kits, the people building them, and the appeal of a different approach.
Read the 1977 article ↗
Our Silo · Built in the 1970sHistory you
History you
can stay in.
Built as a home from the beginning, The Silo in Amherst carries that spirit into the present.
Follow the wooden staircase to the open loft. Settle into the window seat. Notice how the room curves around you, and how the light changes through the day.
Open farmland lies just beyond. Thoughtful comforts make this unusual space feel welcoming.
A closer look: caring for The Silo
Part of this home’s continuing story: siding repairs that follow its distinctive circular shape.
The Silo todayStories
Stories
worth sharing.
Two Grannies on the Road
The Silo was featured on Two Grannies on the Road, a travel series airing on Massachusetts community television that explores the region’s distinctive places and local stories. Their visit brought them inside our curved wooden walls for a conversation about the building and its history.
Coming soon
The Nor’easter
The Silo will be featured in an upcoming article in The Nor’easter from New England Travel Journal.
Make yourself part of the story.
A few days in Amherst. A place you’ll remember.