Historic Significance
Architectural description:
This is a 1 1/2-story side or eave-entry bank barn with two gable-roof additions. The main eave-facade faces north towards North street, which runs approximately east-west.
The main entry is found on the north eave-facade of the barn and consist of a pair of exterior sliding doors in the middle bay of the original tripartite setup (it now has a fourth bay added on the east end). Above the doors is a 14-light transom window. The western-most bay is blank; the other two eastern bays each have an eight-pane window. The east gable-end has a shed-roof addition with a cantilevered fore-bay. The west gable-end has a shed-roof addition with an open basement. Both are relatively new. The gable-ends also have six-pane fanlights under the apex of the roof. The south eave-side of the barn has two pass-through dutch doors under grade (one at the east corner and the other in the middle bay of the original structure) as well as two six-over-six double-hung windows (in the middle two bays of the current structure) and two eight-pane windows in the eastern-most and western-most bays. Above grade are four eight-pane windows, one in each bay.
The barn has vertical flush-board siding painted red with white trim and an asphalt shingled roof topped with a cupola. The foundation is mostly concrete with some evidence of fieldstone.
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.
Field Notes
This is a good example of an English style bank barn. Interestingly, the eastern ell was constructed with a cantilevered fore-bay, in the style of barns associated with the German or Sweitzer barn of central Pennsylvania. This is a modern addition.