Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

• State Historic Resource Inventory

Historic Significance

Architectural description:

This is a 1 ½ story, gable-entry bank barn. The barn has a rectangular footprint and a pitched roof with a ridge-line running roughly northeast-southwest, which is perpendicular to Ansonia Road. The main gable-end faces southwest and has an exterior sliding door on the west half, with the track running the length of the south gable-end. The southwest gable-end of the barn is accessed by a wood ramp. Centrally located in the gable attic is a swinging hinged hay door. The grade begins to decline just south of the barn and continues to decline to the northeast, exposing the stone foundation on the northwest eave-side, northeast gable-end, and southeast eave-side. The northwest eave-side of the barn is blank. The northeast gable-end of the barn has a large swinging hinged door, which is centrally located right below the dropped girt line siding divide. The basement level has an open bay. The southeast eave-side of the barn can not be seen as numerous trees on the property are obstructing the view. The barn is built into a bank and supported by an unmortared stone foundation and is clad in vertical siding, which has been painted red. The roof has a projecting overhang and is covered in 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. The gable front offers many practical advantages.  Roofs drain 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.

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

Small barn or shed Grant Pre-app 2009 2011 Barns Grant pre-application.

Use (Historic)

• agriculture

Use (Present)

• storage

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Unknown

Related features

n/a

Environment features

• Residential
• Woodland

Relationship to surroundings

The total area of the site is .83 acres, which includes a house and barn. The house faces roughly east onto Ansonia Road and is located to the south of the barn. The ridgeline of the house runs roughly east-west, as does the ridgeline of the barn. There are numerous trees on the property and woodlands surround the property on the north side.

Building Typology

• New England Bank

Materials

• Fieldstone
• Flush-board
• Vertical Siding

Structural System

• Post & Beam
• Wood Frame

Roof materials

• Wood Shingle

Roof type

• Gable

Approximate Dimensions

300 sq. ft.

Date Compiled

02/24/2011

Compiled By

C. Whims & T. Levine, reviewed by CT Trust

Sources

Field notes and photographs by Debbie Schlegel, date 03/27/2009.

Town of Woodbridge Assessor’s Record or GIS Viewer: http://data.visionappraisal.com
Parcel ID: 2901/ 50/ 193/ / /

Aerial Mapping:
http://www.bing.com/maps accessed 02/24/2011.

Cunningham, Jan, Warner, Elizabeth, Historic Woodbridge: an historical and architectural resource survey, Woodbridge Historic District Study Committee, 1995.

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.
Visser p. 74-75.