Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

• State Historic Resource Inventory
• State Register

Historic Significance

Architectural Description:

This is a 1 ½ story three-bay, side- or eave-entry bank barn with a shed-roofed addition. The main facade faces south with its ridge line running east-west. The main entrance, in the center bay of the south eave-facade, is a pair of exterior sliding doors. The west bay has a fixed six-pane window. Under the west bay, below the grade, is an earthened ramp down to the basement where there is a pair of interior sliding doors. The east bay has a fixed nine-pane window and a pass-through door in the eastern-most corner. The east gable-facade has two pass-through doors. Between the two doors on the north half of the facade is a fixed six-pane window. On the south half of the east gable-facade is a fixed six-pane window and a fixed six-pane window centered in the attic gable. The north eave-facade has a fixed six-pane window in the west bay and a three-pane window above the addition.

The gable-roofed addition is off of the center and east bay of the main structure. A pass-through door is on the north facade with a fixed six-pane window to the east and a fixed five-over-five window to the west. The west gable-facade appears to have a fixed six-pane window on the south half of the facade and a fixed three paned window above the shed-roofed addition. The barn has vertical siding that is painted red with white trim and an un-mortared fieldstone foundation. The roof has wood shingles with two evenly spaced louvered ventilators.

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

Listed on the State Register of Historic Places 6/04/2014. Originally a potato and sheep farm. 2010 Barns Grant applicant.

Use (Historic)

• agriculture

Use (Present)

• poultry

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Unknown

Related features

• Barn
• Garden
• Stone Walls

Environment features

• Residential
• Rural
• Woodland

Relationship to surroundings

The barn faces south to John Street and is perpendicular to Bedford Road. It is set back on the property behind the associated house. A second barn and garden is located on the property is north of the barn with stone walls located west of the barn.

Building Typology

• English Bank

Materials

• Fieldstone
• Vertical Siding

Structural System

• Wood Frame

Roof materials

• Wood Shingle

Roof type

• Gable
• Shed

Approximate Dimensions

n/a

Date Compiled

05/12/2010

Compiled By

S. Lessard and T. Levine, reviewed by CT Trust

Sources

Photographs by Mike and Genevieve Howe.

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.