Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

• National Register

Historic Significance

Architectural description:

This is a 1-story gable-roofed structure with its ridge-line oriented north-south. A pair of hinged doors in the north gable-end are the primary entry. A single pass-through door opening is located in the south gable-end. The eave-sides have no openings. Siding is vertical boards except at the lower portion of the west eave-side there is horizontal board siding. The roof is asphalt shingles.

Historical significance:

The New England barn or gable-front barn was the successor to the English barn and relies on a gable entry rather than an entry under the eaves.

This outbuilding is small and likely a minor structure on the 100-acre farm of the mid- to late-19th century.

Field Notes

Barn and Woodshed (attached at rear of house - removed prior to 2009) associated with Federal-Greek Revival house dating to 1833. Property is individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A wood-framed barn, and wood-framed icehouse are contributing structures. Two other barns were removed in the late 20th century. The current 3.8 acres are part of what was formerly a 100-acre farm. The site was under town ownership in 1994 but currently appears to be privately owned.

Use (Historic)

• agriculture

Use (Present)

• unknown

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Original Site

Related features

• Barn
• Garage
• Shed

Environment features

• Commercial
• Open Land
• Rural
• Scattered Buildings

Relationship to surroundings

The Loomis-Pomeroy House is located on Boston Turnpike, U.S. Route 44, in the town of Coventry, Connecticut. The transitional Federal/Greek Revival residence stands only a little more than 500 feet west of the intersection where State Route 31 heads southeast toward Coventry Village (historically
known as South Coventry), the modern town center, which is nearly
five miles distant. From earliest Colonial settlement onward, Boston Turnpike has been a major route of transportation linking Hartford and Boston. It passes here through an area that became known as North Coventry in the mid-18th century with the establishment of a separate ecclesiastical society. The Loomis-Pomeroy House is part of a small cluster of primarily 18th- and
19th-century buildings that form North Coventry today, the centerpiece of which, the North Coventry Congregational Church (1847), is directly across the street. Just to the east of the house is the modern one-story Meadowbrook Plaza shopping center, which occupies part of the original Loomis-
Pomeroy farm.
Historically, the property consisted of a 100-acre farm, but the National Register nomination includes only the 3.8-acre parcel still in common ownership with the house. Sloping gradually downward to the east, the lot contains mature trees scattered throughout and lining Boston Turnpike. Several outbuildings contribute to its significance (Figure 3). Directly behind the house is a 19th-century privy [no longer extant], while to the southwest is a 19th-century wood-framed barn, and to the east is
another of similar age and design that served in earlier years as
an ice house.
The Loomis-Pomeroy House is a 15-room building in two sections: a
two-story brick main block, with gable roof oriented perpendicular to the street (28’ x 38’), and a 1-1/2-story brick and [wood-frame] wing projecting to the east (30 1 x 25’), also gable-roofed (photographs 1 and 4) but with brick and wood exterior walls.
Attached to the rear of the main block is a wood-framed wood shed, sheathed with vertical boarding, that is structurally separate from the house [no longer extant]. The facade of the main block has three bays, with the main entrance located offcenter in the left bay and windows arranged symmetrically in each of the other bays. An 1833 construction date is assigned to the house, with basis in both historical and structural evidence; the wing, however, may have been built at a different date, perhaps earlier (Andrews, Section 7).

Building Typology

• Other Shed

Materials

• Vertical Siding

Structural System

• Wood Frame

Roof materials

• Asphalt Shingle

Roof type

• Gable

Approximate Dimensions

240 square feet

Date Compiled

06/30/2011

Compiled By

Charlotte Hitchcock, reviewed by CT Trust

Sources

Photographs and field notes by Charlotte Hitchcock 10/27/2009.

Assessor’s Record and GIS Viewer: http://ceo.fando.com/coventry/find.aspx?service=Coventry
Parcel ID:  010/0017/0001   3.8 acres   Shed 1story 240.00 sf  

Aerial Mapping:
http://maps.google.com
http://www.bing.com/maps accessed 6/30/2011.

Andrews, Gregory, and Lewis, Barbara, Historic and Architectural Resources Survey of Coventry: the Coventry Village Area, 1980.

Andrews, Gregory E., Loomis-Pomeroy House National Register Historic District Nomination No. 94000370, National Park Service, 1994.

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.