Barn Record Preston
RETURN TO ‘FIND BARNS’
- Overview
-
Designations
n/a
Historic Significance
Architectural description:
This is a 1 1/2 story side or eave-entry barn with a saltbox-roofed addition and a lean-to attached to a partially enclosed wagon shed. The main facade faces east, perpendicular to School House Road, which runs approximately north-south. The facade appears to have four bays. The northern-most bay appears to have been added at a later date. The main entry is an exterior sliding door in the middle of the three original bays with tracks extending into the southern-most bay. The sliding door encompasses the entire height of the facade. The southern-most bay is blank. The third bay has a large and small window space. The northern-most bay has two pass-through doors, one at either end, separated by two different sized small windows. Off the northernmost-bay to the east is a lean-to connected a saltbox-roofed wagon shed with exterior sliding doors and novelty siding. The southern gable-facade of the main structure has no apparent openings, but it does have a projecting hayhood and what appears to be a boarded haydoor. The west eave-facade has a saltbox-roofed addition spanning the entire length of the structure. The original three bay structure have vertical flush board painted red in some places; in others painted white. The northern-most bay have horizontal clapboard. The main structure appears to have un-mortared fieldstone foundation and the bracket roof has asphalt shingles with a cupola.
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.
Until the 1830’s, the horses used for riding and driving carriages were often kept in the main barn along with the other farm animals. By the 1850’s, some New England farmers built separate horse stables and carriage houses. Early carriage houses were built just to shelter a carriage and perhaps a sleigh, but no horses. The pre-cursor to the twentieth-century garage, these outbuildings are distinguished by their large hinged doors, few windows, and proximity to the dooryard. The combined horse stable and carriage house continued to be a common farm building through the second half of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth century, until automobiles became common.
Field Notes
Dairy farm at one time - haybarn & attached carriage shed - owner estimates @ 100 years old
- Use & Accessibility
Use (Historic)
Use (Present)
Exterior Visible from Public Road?
Yes
Demolished
n/a
Location Integrity
Unknown
- Environment
Related features
Environment features
Relationship to surroundings
The gable end of the wagon shed is close to the road and has a stone wall extending to the north.
- Typology & Materials
-
Building Typology
Materials
Structural System
n/a
Roof materials
Roof type
Approximate Dimensions
n/a
- Source
-
Date Compiled
04/09/2010
Compiled By
Todd Levine, reviewed by the Connecticut Trust
Sources
Photographs and field notes by Gail Rigney - 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.
- PhotosClick on image to view full file
-
