Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

• Local Historic District
• National Register

Historic Significance

Architectural description:

This 1 ½ story side-or eave-entry barn has a thirteen-pane transom over a pair of hinged doors on its main facade facing east. Its ridge line runs north-south along Chaplin Street. There is a sliding door mounted on an interior track to the left side of the east facade. Double six-pane windows are between the sliding and hinged doors. The barn has vertical sheathing that is painted grey. The top course of sheathing overlaps the bottom in the center of the barn. The roof has asphalt shingles and a small overhang with brackets.

Historical significance:

The oldest barns still found in the state are called the “English Barn,” “side-entry barn,” “eave entry,” or a 30 x 40. They are simple buildings with rectangular plan, pitched gable roof, and a door or doors located on one or both of the eave sides of the building based on the grain warehouses of the English colonists’ homeland. The name “30 by 40” originates from its size (in feet), which was large enough for 1 family and could service about 100 acres. The multi-purpose use of the English barn is reflected by the building’s construction in three distinct bays - one for each use. The middle bay was used for threshing, which is separating the seed from the stalk in wheat and oat by beating the stalks with a flail. The flanking bays would be for animals and hay storage.

Historical background:

The Chaplin Historic District is an entire village built between 1815 and 1840, standing today in complete integrity, free of intrusions. The church, tavern, Town Hall, store and nineteen houses in late Federal and early Greek Revival styles provide a unique example of the architecture and ambience of a New England village - entirely constructed in a compressed period of time a century and a half ago, and unaltered since that time.
Connecticut has many villages which are older than Chaplin and many towns founded earlier than Chaplin in which can be traced continuing architectural and community developments from a century or more before through a century or more after the fabric demonstrated by Chaplin. Chaplin is unique because it was created on site where before there had been no settlement, was created complete in a brief span of time, and subsequently has experienced no development or changes. Chaplin provides a unique record of the architecture and community planning of the 1820’s and 1830’s (Ransom, p. 7).

Field Notes

73 Chaplin Street is the best known house on Chaplin street. This house was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places before the establishment of Chaplin Local Historic District. The house bears the name of its original owner, Dr. Oren Witter. Witter was Chaplin's first doctor and also was the towns first town clerk (Devlin, 1988. vii-4) Devlin, William E. 1988. Handbook for Connecticut Historic District and Historic Properties Commissions. Hartford: Connecticut Historical Commission.

Use (Historic)

• agriculture

Use (Present)

• storage

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Unknown

Related features

• Barn
• Other
• Shed
• Stone Walls

Environment features

• Residential

Relationship to surroundings

The barn is situated on the north side of the Witter House. It is one of two barns on the property.

Building Typology

• English

Materials

• Vertical Siding

Structural System

• Post & Beam

Roof materials

• Asphalt Shingle

Roof type

• Gable

Approximate Dimensions

45'6" L x 26'4" W

Date Compiled

12/23/2009

Compiled By

T. Levine and S. Lessard, reviewed by CT Trust

Sources

Photographs by Catherine Lynch, Hill Bullard, Charlotte Hitchcock, and Stephanie Lessard 11/25/2009.

Devlin, William E. 1988. Handbook for Connecticut Historic District and Historic Properties Commissions. Hartford: Connecticut Historical Commission.

Luyster, Constance, Witter House National Register Nomination No. 70000704, National Park Service, 1970.

Ransom, David, Chaplin National Register Historic District Nomination, # 78002856, National Park Service, 10/11/1978.

Sexton, James, PhD, Survey Narrative of the Connecticut Barn, Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation, Hamden, CT, 2005, http://www.connecticutbarns.org/history.

Visser, Thomas D., Field Guide to New England Barns and Farm Buildings, University Press of New England, 1997.

Works Progress Administration Writers’ Project, Architectural Survey, Census of Old Buildings, Reference Group 33, Box 226 “Bolton-Chaplin,” Hartford: Connecticut State Library Archives.