Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

• State Register

Historic Significance

Architectural description:

This is a 1 ½-story six-bay gable-roofed gable-entry bank barn.  The main façade faces east and the ridge-line of the barn is perpendicular to this portion of Burlingame Road, which runs approximately north-south.  The main entry is a pair of exterior sliding doors with a shallow hood over the track hardware, located in the center of the east gable-end of the barn.  Each door has a pair of two-pane-by-four-pane, fixed-sash windows set within it.  A fifteen-pane transom window is located above the main entry, and a large, granite slab is at the threshold.  The main entry is flanked by nine-pane windows.  A pass-through door with a shallow, shed-roof hood is located in the north corner of the east gable-end of the barn. A double-hung window is located in the gable peak, at the attic level. 

At the first-floor level of the south eave-side of the barn, there is a swinging, hinged door in the easternmost bay; a single, six-pane, hopper stable window in each of the three bays to the west; a pair of six-pane, hopper stable windows in the bay to the west of that; and a single, six-pane, hopper stable window in the westernmost bay. The grade at the south eave-side of the barn declines sharply, revealing a basement level with five open bays (all but the easternmost bay).

The west gable-end of the barn appears to have a fieldstone foundation fully exposed at the basement level, a door opening located in the center of the first floor, and a window in the gable attic. 

The north eave-side of the barn has an un-mortared fieldstone foundation with a pair of wood, swinging, hinged doors located in the center.  Each door contains a six-pane window in its upper half and a recessed panel with an X-brace in its lower half. The fieldstone foundation continues to the east, forming a retaining wall, and then turns sharply to the north and parallels the road for a short stretch.  There are three windows in the east half of first-floor level of the north eave-side of the barn: two, nine-pane stable windows and one, twelve-pane window.  There is a single window located just below the eave line, to the east of the center of the north eave-side of the barn. The barn has wood clapboard siding and corner boards; some of the siding appears to have been in the process of being replaced in-kind and painted red at the time the photographs were taken.  The foundation is un-mortared field-stone. The roof has deep overhangs at the eaves and rakes, and is covered with asphalt shingles.

Historical significance:

The New England barn or gable front barn was the successor to the English barn and relied on a gable entry rather than an entry under the eaves. The gable front offered many practical advantages. Roofs drained off the side, rather than flooding the dooryard. With the main drive floor running parallel to the ridge, the size of the barn could be increased to accommodate larger herds by adding additional bays to the rear gable end. Although it was seen by many as an improvement over the earlier side-entry English Barn, the New England barn did not replace its predecessor but rather coexisted with it; both types continued to be constructed. The 19th century also 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 on 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.

Field Notes

Listed on the State Register of Historic Places 3/06/2013 Burlingame Farm on Burlingame Road. Barn recently underwent an extensive renovation. The family dates the barn to 1895 although an older structure is believed to have stood at the same site. Most of the original interior is intact. Today the farm maintains about 20 sheep, but it was originally a dairy farm and this was the dairy barn. Barns grant 2012

Use (Historic)

• dairy

Use (Present)

• sheep

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Original Site

Related features

• Shed
• Stone Walls

Environment features

• Active Agriculture
• Open Land
• Residential
• Rural
• Woodland

Relationship to surroundings

The barn is located on a 91-acre site on the west side of Burlingame Road, near the intersection of Burlingame and Slater Hill roads.  The barn is set back just a few feet from the road. A small, 1-story, wood-frame, gable-roof shed is located immediately to the southeast of the barn and another barn (HRI 17493) is located to the north. Stone walls are located within and on the east perimeter of the property. Mashentuck Brook bisects the site length-wise. The western half of the site is steep and wooded.  The barn is owned by the same individuals who own a c. 1770 house located across the street and just to the south of the barn, on a 152.30-acre site at 60 Burlingame Road; presumably, this house was historically associated with the barn, as well.  The area surrounding the site is light residential, open space and woodland. 

Parcel ID: 008760

Building Typology

• New England Bank

Materials

• Clapboard
• Fieldstone

Structural System

• Post & Beam
• Wood Frame

Roof materials

• Asphalt Shingle

Roof type

• Gable

Approximate Dimensions

2304 square feet

Date Compiled

03/18/2011

Compiled By

J. M. Doherty & T. Levine; reviewed by CT Trust

Sources

Field notes and photographs by Michael Green, 01/29/2010.

Town of Killingly Assessor’s Record:
http://killingly.ias-clt.com/parcel.list.php

Town of Killingly GIS Viewer:
http://www.caigisonline.net/killinglyct/

Parcel ID: 008760

Aerial Mapping:
http://maps.google.com accessed 03/18/2011.
http://www.bing.com/maps accessed 03/18/2011.

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.