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Architectural Description:
This is a 1 ½ story three-bay, Dutch-gambrel bank barn. The barn faces west with its ridge line running north-south. The main entrance appears to be a door opening in the center bay of the west eave-facade. Above the eave is a gable-roofed dormer with a pair of hinged hay doors. Above the girt line on the south gable-facade is a pair of hinged doors that are centered below the triangular hood. The basement level of the east eave-facade has three open bays braced with two posts. There is a window opening centered below the ridge line on the north gable-facade. The barn has vertical siding that is both unpainted and painted red on the front, left and right facades. The roof has asphalt shingles and the foundation is made of concrete cinder blocks.
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.
The 19th century saw the introduction of a basement under the barn to allow for the easy collection and storage of a winter’s worth of manure from the animals sheltered within the building. The bank barn is characterized by the location of its main floor above grade, either through building into a hillside or by raising the building on a foundation. This innovation, aided by the introduction of windows for light and ventilation, would eventually be joined by the introduction of space to shelter more animals under the main floor of the barn.
The barn is located behind the associated house. This is one of two barns on property along with non contributing outbuildings.
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The barn faces west perpendicular to Lebanon Road. The barn is situated north east of the associated house with a gable-roofed barn northwest of the barn. There appear to be scattered buildings, possibly barns, west of the barn. east of the barn is open land which appears to be used for agricultural purposes with stone walls surrounding the property.
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04/28/2010
T. Levine and S. Lessard, reviewed by CT Trust
Photographs by Rick Spencer (rspencer02@snet.net).- 12/09/2009
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.