Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

• State Historic Resource Inventory

Historic Significance

Architectural description:

This barn is likely one of the oldest extant colonial farm buildings in Litchfield. It is important for its association with the Catlin family and as part of a well-preserved 19C farmstead. Most of the framing appears to be original and the lack of a ridgepole is notable. At the end of the 20th century, it was used as a horse barn.

This barn has a traditional English format with the wagon door roughly centered on the east façade; a door with strap hinges is set adjacent to the north; another located at the southwest corner in the rear. The south end of the structure rests on a low fieldstone foundation, laid dry, and reinforced in some places with cement blocks. The framework is a hand-hewn, pegged, post-and-beam structure with studs at two-foot intervals, intermediate girt and a braced plate. A tie beam supports the end rafters; the rafters are framed without a ridge pole. Massive cross beams support a haymow over half the space. The floor is dirt.

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.

Field Notes

Materials: Clapboard siding at gable ends; Horizontal board with vertical tongue-and-groove barn

Use (Historic)

• agriculture

Use (Present)

• storage

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Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Unknown

Related features

• Barn
• Garden

Environment features

• Rural
• Scattered Buildings
• Woodland

Relationship to surroundings

Barn stands on the west side of East Chestnut Hill Road, across from, and slightly south of, the main house. Wooded to the rear. Fronts directly onto the road.

Building Typology

• English

Materials

• Clapboard
• Horizontal Siding

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Structural System

• Post & Beam

Roof materials

• Wood Shingle

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Roof type

• Gable

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Approximate Dimensions

44 x 20 1 story

Date Compiled

09/07/2008

Compiled By

Rachel Carley

Sources

Litchfield Tax Assessor Records
Interview with Carol Bramley 9/07

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.