Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

• State Historic Resource Inventory

Historic Significance

Architectural description:

Distinguished by a hand-hewn timber frame, this barn is significant as part of one of the best-preserved complexes of outbuildings on a Colonial-era Litchfield farmstead. Although there is some speculation that it once served as an ice house, there is no direct evidence of this, including proximity to a cow barn. The fact that the lower gable end was originally open indicates that it held livestock on the lower level, and likely hay above. It may also have been used for the goods that Thomas Catlin sold and bartered. The lack of ridgepole indicates an early age.

This peak-roofed bank barn, which stands on a dry stone foundation, is situated with its gable ends to the north and south. The structure adjusts to the sloping grade so that it gains a lower floor at its south gable end, which was originally open at ground level. The floor at this level is dirt. The framework is a hand-hewn, pegged post-and-beam structure, probably chestnut; with Queen post rafter trusses at the gable ends. The rafters meet at the roof ridge with no ridgepole. This building originally had wide-board sheathing. There is evidence of a loft.

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

Historic use: barn Present use: pool house Style: Bank barn.

Use (Historic)

• agriculture

Use (Present)

• re-use

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Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Unknown

Related features

• Garden
• Other

Environment features

• Open Land
• Rural
• Scattered Buildings

Relationship to surroundings

This structure is located immediately to the east of the Thomas Catlin House. The site slopes to the east and south. Pool is located to the south.

Building Typology

• English Bank

Materials

• Clapboard

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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

30 x 15 1 story plus lower level

Date Compiled

08/07/2008

Compiled By

Rachel Carley

Sources

Litchfield Tax Assessor Records
Interview with Carol Bramley 8/07

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.